Marian peg doll swap

Out of all our peg dolls, these are my favorite.  And, I'm sure you'll see why!  We love our Mother Mary, so having all these peg dolls to help us remember all her various titles, apparitions, and love for us are such a blessing!!!  I painted 25 of the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel pegs and swapped with 24 other moms.  (the other two I bought)

(Our Lady of the Assumption, Our Lady of Beauraing, Our Lady of Czestochowa)

Hail Mary, full of grace.

(Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Our Lady of the Rosary)

The Lord is with thee.

(Mary Mystical Rose, Our Lady of Kibeho, Our Lady of Guadalupe)

Blessed art thou among women!  

(Mother of Good Counsel, Our Lady of Lourdes, Mary Undoer of Knots)

And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  

(Madonna of the Streets, Our Lady Queen of Peace, Immaculate Heart of Mary)

Holy Mary, Mother of God, 

(Our Lady of La Vang, Our Lady of Hope, Our Lady of Knock)

pray for us sinners, 

(Our Lady of Grace, Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal)

now and at the hour of our death.  Amen.  

(Our Lady of Ngome, Our Lady of Good Help, Our Lady of Snows)

(Our Lady of the Americas, Mary Queen of Heaven, Our Lady of Snows)

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!!  

My biggest "secret" for getting it all done

How do you do it?

A question that I get asked all too often.

People think that because I homeschool.  Because I have a crew of kids.  A crew of happy, sweet, good kids.  Because I seem happy.  And always seem to have a smile on my face.  Because I am joyful.  That I am some sort of super mom, super woman.  Golly, I wish I could take that credit and award!!  But, no such luck.

I have had to learn many things....

You must have limits!!  You must say "no" to many things.  Many good things.  Many amazing educational opportunities.  Many cool field trips.  No.  No.  No.  Because if I say "yes" to it all, then I am saying "no" to something else.

As a mom/homeschooler, my number one priority is to serve God and my family as a wife and a mother.  I have been called to homeschool, so this is also added to my plate.  These things must come first.  Nowhere does it say that I must send my kids to every single education opportunity, go to every field trip, or even leave the house daily to go to daily Mass or adoration.  You see, my biggest "secret" for getting it all done is to STAY HOME.  That's right, if I'm gone every single day, or multiple times a day, who is going to teach my kids?  Who is going to do the grading?  Who is going to do my laundry?  Who is going to do the cleaning?  Who is going to keep things tidy?  Who is going to cook the food?  Who is going to do the dishes?  ....no one!!  It is my job to keep things running smoothly on the homefront.  My job to keep up with the house and homeschooling and keep things running running peacefully and smoothly.

So when the world starts spinning and my house is starting to fall apart.  Mountains of laundry. Bellies filled with too much fast food and junk food.  Grading days and days behind.  My head so much in a fog that I don't know up from down, left from right.  Then I know it's time to scale back and STAY HOME more!  My kids need me.  My house needs order.  (not perfection, I must add, but enough of an order where we can all focus clearly without the mess starting to sink into our souls and making our head and hearts spin, and taking away every ounce of peace that once was)

This fall has been the busiest we have ever had.  I am so so so grateful that it is done and the busyness is over.  It was a huge blessing to offer our kids so many great opportunities.  But I quickly realized that this is the busiest I want things to be.  I don't want to go beyond the number of activities we had.  We not only ran almost every day, but we ran multiple directions in the evening.  Barely had one or two family meals during the week.  Laundry and the house, thankfully, didn't fall apart.  But it was enough of a "split" feeling, that I know I want less of that and more simple from here on out.  These kids will grow too fast.  I don't want them to remember all the running and craziness and rushing.  I want them to remember our home.  That haven of peace.  And joy.  And love.  The place where they spend most of their time.  And have the best of memories there.

A very good and holy priest friend of ours encouraged us that staying home and living fully in our Domestic Church is what we need to be doing.  We cannot miss these opportunities for holiness in the most simple of moments.  Eating family dinners and being together is such a grace-filled time. He shared with us that staying home and being together is a lot more important than doing everything and being in every single sport and activity.  Satan wants to rob us of these holy moments by constantly making us be on the run.  Sometimes we just need to say no, and ground ourselves at home.

HOME is where the HEART is!!  

Three and cute as can be!!!

Three years with you, dear!!  

You are our little "cute-ness"!!  (nicknamed that by big brother, Fone!)
What a happy, adorable, fun, sweet girl you are!  Always a JOY to be around!!

To celebrate your birthday, we wanted to have a look back at all the fun we have had you this past year...

 Sweet Rose and our new kitty, Elsa,  that we got this summer.  

We were blessed to have a traveling Mary statue stay with us this summer.  Rose loved Mary.  She would smooch her and talk to her and hug her.  

++Holy Mary, pray for us!++ 

 Rose and Yoda

So very beautiful   

Rose loves to play with all her peg dolls.  Here she is with Our Lady of Snows (one of her favorites) 

Rose, Melody, and myself at the Lighted Parade for the Fourth of July 

a mini Snow White and the real Snow White 

Big sissy, Melody, reading to Yoda and Rose 

Silly Mario and Rose 

3 silly sisters 

Yes, she is!!!!

Rose meeting Mickey for the first time!!! 

 Rose and her biggest brother, Fone

 Rose and Daddy

How can you not smile when you look at this girl?  She is such a JOY!!!  

Love her to pieces!!!!!!!!!!  :)

++Loving God, you created all the people of the world and you know each of us by name. We thank you for "Rose", who celebrates her birthday today. Bless her with your love and friendship that she may grow in wisdom, knowledge, and grace. May she love her family always and be faithful to her friends. Amen. ++

Halloween 2015

Picking out pumpkins

Our Kids' Halloween Costumes

Fone:  Spartan

Mario:  Ranger

Melody:  Elsa

Ariel:  Anna

Mario:  Robin Hood

Pookey:  King

Rose:  Servant Girl

Yoda:  Yoda  ;)

Halloween Hustle

with some of their cousins

4 sisters Halloween picture!!!  Love these girls!!  

Visiting the Cemetery 

(This year was my first time and my kid's first time not being able to trick-or-treat to a great-grandparent.  My last living grandparent passed away this summer.  So a visit out to the cemetery was a must!  And, a cemetery visit would not be complete without visiting my brothers - Tony and Matthew.  Monday is the day we celebrate All Souls, so we made our trip out the cemetery a little early.)  

Carving and Painting Pumpkins 

 

Was totally NOT expecting the bruised and sore arm the next day!!  But I guess all the scraping with the six pumpkins that we carved was a little too much stress on my forearm.  Youch!  Has anyone else had this happen before??  

Trick-or-Treating

Didn't take a picture of it, but we ended our evening eating the traditional Goblin Stew that I grew up eating as a kid every Halloween.  I made up two big pans and we took them out to my parents to eat and celebrate together.  So glad I went back to Grandma many times to ask her about and to perfect her recipe, when Neil and I were first married.  It had to be "just so" or it doesn't taste right.  She put up with all my questions and helped pass on her special recipe to me, and I am so grateful for that.  Hopefully, this yummy dish will be a tradition that I can continue every Halloween!!  Love and miss her SO much!!

++Thank you, God, for Halloween fun, 

my sweet 8 pumpkins, traditions passed on, 

and for memories made!!++

All Saints Day

++St. John, pray for us!++

++St. Matthew, pray for us!++

++St. Anne, pray for us!++

++St. Elizabeth, pray for us!++

++St. Mark, pray for us!++

++St. Luke, pray for us!++

++St. Therese, pray for us!++

++Fulton Sheen, pray for us!++