Today was the annual Mudbowl at the PCJ. There could have been no better day for the Mudbowl! Sunny and 65 in November!

We arrived early, around 9 am to pray rosary and go to Mass with the seminarians and visit with our friend, Stephen (a member of St. Mary, Marion, seminarian for the Diocese of Columbus and all around good guy). I have to say it is always wonderful to attend mass at a seminary. It is the one of the few places in the world where your child(ren) can scream scream scream all the way through mass and you will be approached afterwards and told how wonderful it is to have children at Mass.

After mass we got a snack for the kids and some coffee for their mumma and took a tour of the grounds. Stephen and Joshua took the kids down a deep ravine in the woods. I wanted to go but I didn’t wear the right shoes, so I sat at the top of the hill and enjoyed the day.

Then it was time for tailgating. A seminarian from Louisiana made some delicious barbecue. The story was that he stayed up all night to make sure it was all done and he did a fabulous job. There was pork, beef, brats, hotdogs, chips salsa, gumbo, soda, beer and more! We actually took a plate home for dinner. During lunch, we visited with former professors of Joshua’s (oh, did I mention, he is an alumnus?) and got to see our dear friend, Fr. Schalk. (We just love him!)

At 2:00 it was time for some good ol’ Flag Football.  Sadly the College guys lost to the Theology guys. Both Karol and Margaret LOVED watching the game. They tossed the little football we brought along and put  an arms length of raffle tickets in their belt loops to have flags. They played and played and played. Caecilia took a nap on a blanket during the game. Well, until the College scored a touch down. After the game was over, we headed home, much to Karol’s dislike. He asked to stay. I told him in 15 years, he could go back to live.

I love going to the PCJ, I really do. When I helped with the Youth 2000 retreats, we would go there once a month for the months leading up to the retreat to join the seminarians in a Holy Hour and to pray Vespers with them.  Those Sunday nights first introduced me to a few things, starting with the Liturgy of the Hours.  They would be chanted and I had never seen such a wonderful thing in my life. We would be paired up with someone who had a breviary and they helped to to pray them. I was also able to meet and become friends with  seminarians from all over the country, if not the world.  Their witness helped me in my discernment process , something for which I am eternally grateful.

Of course, it is also where I met Joshua, but that is a story for another day….

Kimberly? I have been an off and on reader of her blog and today, after posting an article of hers, I was informed that she belongs to the same Ladies Night Out group as I do! So while I haven’t met her yet, I hope to soon. This article she wrote was just what I needed to hear today.

I think my baby has decided she no longer needs naps. I put her down twice a day and she doesn’t sleep for either of them, I am pretty sure. She gets quiet but I am pretty sure she is just playing quietly. My oldest has informed me that he no longer needs naps either, whatever kiddo, you will take a nap and do it now! The middle one is hit and miss and well, she doesn’t like to take naps unless the lights are on, in the middle of the day. Hmmmm. I often find her in our bed under the covers.

The two older ones have taken to getting in to bed with us in the morning. I never know who I am going to wake up next to. This morning I thought it was Karol as when the alarm went off, the body next to me turned it off. Nope, Margaret knows how to  turn it off too. (as if I needed another reason to be lazy in the morning).

Today I am preparing for advent by making things a bit more organized around the house,  finishing projects that have been hanging around for ages, mostly curtains. I have the kitchen ones done, they just need to be hung. I have to make one for the laundry room as I must have been on drugs when I measured and sewed the one I made for back there, too short to be a full curtain, too long to be a half curtain. I plan on cutting tabs for the curtains in the dining room. I really love tabbed curtains, they are a bit more time consuming to make than the other curtains I have made, but they seem to do much more to a room.

This year I want to do a Jesse Tree. I don’t actually put the ornaments on a tree, but plan on hanging them from the fire place mantle. We are also trying to prepare for the true joy of Christmas by making small sacrifices during Advent. One of those will be going meatless through the month of December. I planned out all the meals, leaving Sundays as a day with meat as it is a mini-Easter. (My plan is to then freeze the left overs from that meal and use them in January).  What does your family do for Advent?

Then, tomorrow will be be spent preparing for the weekend. We have the PCJ  (Pontifical College Josephinum) Mudbowl on Saturday afternoon (Go College!!!).  On Sunday we are going to St Patrick for Mass in the morning then heading to the cemetery to pray at Rick’s grave as it is his birthday and the last day in the All Saints Octave then to lunch with some friends from the city.

Off to cut some tabs now…kids are sleeping! Have a joyous day!

It has been a while since I posted last. I often start a post then realize it is the most boring thing, so I don’t publish it. So here I try again!

Today is the Feast of St. Charles Borromeo and as Pope John Paul II was named Karol Jozef in honor of St. Charles Borromeo, we celebrate this day as one of Karol’s feast days. I am roasting a chicken in the crock pot and we will have chocolate cake with butter cream frosting for dessert. (Or maybe pumpkin pie, I haven’t decided yet.) This morning, after mass, I made the kids oatmeal with chocolate chips sprinkled on top, that went over like a lead balloon. 🙁

Yesterday we celebrated the Feast of St. Martin de Porres by making cupcakes to take to our friend, Martin. Karol also colored a picture for him. Martin in turn shared his Halloween candy with Karol and Margaret.

The kids are getting big, as is expected. Caecilia has been trying to take steps here and there. She loves to stand up in her high chair and do gravity defying stunts while sitting on it. I normally keep her on her Baby Bjorn Potty Chair and put the tray on, then she sits and eats no problem! Today she is 11 months old. One more month until she is One! What happened to the year?

Karol is doing well at home schooling. When I am lazy about it, he asks to do school work. He sits with books often and pretends to read to himself. Yesterday he was reading a dinosaur book that had a picture of a volcano island. There was smoke, fire, water and the sky. He was pointing out words and saying: “Look, Mumma, it says ‘Smoke on the water. Fire in the sky”. (Thanks, ADL)
Margaret has been amazing us with her smarts lately. She has been such a free spirit and doesn’t seem interesting in learning anything but lately she has shown us that she does know how to count to 10 and her colors! Right now she is laying in her bed, reading a book to herself. She will often try to come to the dinner table with books to read and gets upset when we don’t let her read at the table.

We have been doing more home improvements. I have made some curtains for the kitchen and I finally finished the one for the front door. Now I have to do the ones for the dining room.  I have a bit of time as we are getting new windows throughout the whole house (well, save for the addition). This will be a nice update as the windows are original and pretty darn drafty. We have three windows that certainly need to be replaced but figured with the tax credit, that it would make sense to do all of them now. We plan on insulating the attic this winter too. We hope to someday finish the attic and the insulation is one of  the most expensive parts of that project. Next spring we will need to put in a new furnace, then our house will be almost all Energy Star rated.

In January, we are going to split the kids up. C is in her own room right now and K and M share. We are going to put K in his own room and the girls will share. I don’t know how this will work out, but we will have to do it some day and this seems like the time to do it.

So that is what is new from Ohio! What’s new in your neck of the woods?