Pentecost celebrations

Last Sunday, we celebrated the birthday of the Church (Pentecost) and also Big Red's Anniversary with our family (3 years now!!!).  Of course, we all wore RED (except Melody who didn't have a red shirt, so she wore pink).  The kids did a very simple Gifts of the Holy Spirit craft before Mass and we hung them in the doorway between our dining room and kitchen (thanks to a sweet friend who shared her idea on Facebook).  It is our hope that throughout the month of June, we can read these gifts often and stand under a particular gift and pray to be blessed with it. 

That afternoon, we were asked over to swim at my sisters and we brought ingredients to make Pentecost Sundaes (ice cream, DOVE chocolates, cherry - for the fireball, and lots of RED syrup).  They were SO yummy!! 

 And, at night for dinner at our place, we made a Fruits of the Holy Spirit salad....

A Prayer to the Holy Spirit

 

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.  

Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.  

And, you shall renew the face of the earth.

O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful; grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.  

Mother's Day handprint craft

I love Pinterest!!  It has given me so many ideas the last few months.  I stole this super cute idea and decided to make it into a Mother's Day present for my mom and mother-in-law.  It can be done in a few easy steps....

1)  trace and cut out handprints of all the kids/cousins (in different colors)
2) find and print out pictures of each of those kiddos (we just printed them quickly using our colored printer)
3)  cut out a large circular piece of poster board and arrange and glue the handprints around the outside, for the petals
4)  glue the pictures in the center in a collage format
5)  use green construction paper to cut out a stem and leaves and glue to the flower
6)  you can even write on the stem or back of the card - "Happy Mother's Day - 2012" or make it a birthday gift and write "Happy Birthday!!" 

I made up 3 of these lovely flowers:  one of my mom, one for my mother-in-law, and one for my grandma. 


Here's how ours turned out....

Super easy.  Super cute.  Super special!! 

Mother's Day 2012

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Mother's Day!!  The Saturday before Mother's Day, we enjoyed lunch with Neil's mom (and family) and then in the evening, we celebrated with my own mother (and family).  How blessed we are to have our mothers so close to us.  They are always willing to help us - clean, feed us a meal when hungry, watch kiddos, projects around the house, a phone call away when we need tips on cooking, parenting, gardening/landscaping, etc...  I really don't know what we'd do without them.  Love you, Mom, and love you, Jean!!!

On the morning of Mother's Day, we scooted out of the house and drove to a lovely state park, recommended to us by a friend (who also has lots of littles).  We had a blast!!!  Not only were there awesome trails and places to splash in the water, but there was also a wonderful museum dedicated to the park.  We all had a wonderful time and on our drive home, we decided last minute to eat out (which we hardly ever do).  It was the perfect ending to the perfect day!  Thank you God for my wonderful children, whom I am blessed to mother! 

Here are some pictures of our wonderful trip....

sweet little piggies

Ariel

Melody

Max

Pookey

Mario

Fone

Wordless Wednesday - 12 weeks

Announcing...

"The greatest gift you can give your 

child is another sibling."

-Pope John Paul II

EDD:  December 9th, 2012

Early arrival due to risks:  at least 2 weeks before 

(maybe even 3-4 weeks early)

**Any and all prayers would be appreciated since this will be our 7th 

c-section and our last one (with Luke) was a true miracle.

"I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

-Phil 4:13

"How can there be too many children?  That is 

like saying there are too many flowers."

-Mother Teresa

Easter 2012

We had two lovely Easter celebrations this year - one with Neil's side of the family (on Easter Sunday) and one with my family (two weeks after Easter). Of course, both are gatherings with a ton of fun, cousins, way too much food, playing, and Easter Egg hunts. 

Here are pictures of our Easter morning and afternoon together with the 8 of us....
(we were inspired by Charlotte and Jessica and used some of their Easter symbol gifts/dessert ideas)

making resurrection rolls (aka:  empty tomb)....

Easter Egg hunt....

Here are pictures from the celebration with Neil's family on the evening of Easter....

My first attempt at a lamb cake - not too bad!  What do you think??

 12 out of 14 of the crew of cousins before the Easter Egg Hunt (the other 2 were in the house)

  Easter Egg Hunting....

Here are pictures from the celebration with my side of the family...
(note:  the blur in the group pictures and egg hunts.....   my camera battery had died as soon as I tried turning on the camera to take the group pic.  Thank you God for cameras on our fancy phones, even though there is a slight blur!)

14 cousins (but will be 15 soon after the egg hatches)

My 2nd attempt at a lamb cake - I think it'll become a tradition now!!

Easter Egg Hunting....

Praying you are blessed with much 

JOY this Easter season!!