Good afternoon all! I was wondering if you could perhaps, offer a little prayer for the Facefamily. Nothing major, nothing bad, just a discernment issue that we are working through. Thanks!

I had been thinking of changing my blog for a while and seeing Anne’s change inspired me to follow through.  The only thing I do not like about this theme is that it does not have a log in section for me, so I have to change my bookmark to the admin log in and not just go straight to my blog.

Speaking of changes, I think I am going to hem all the curtains upstairs so that they do not touch the floor, or hang much below the window. We bought them when we first moved back to Ohio and they worked at the first place we lived and they work here too, but I think shorter would be better. That is mainly because I bought another set of the same curtains for the kids’ room as we only had one panel on each window. However, the new set is shorter than the other set and the shorter look better. Then I thought, what if I did that for all the curtains in the house? I will start during nap time. (Pray that they take naps!)

**Update, I cut myself while attempting to trim a piece of thread. Without examining the damage, I called Joshua to have him come home and help me. I am really blessed that he is able to do that for me. It was just a little cut but he didn’t make fun of me, yet. Now I have to finish hemming, wish me luck!**

Today is the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Pope Benedict wrote a letter for today, it is a short but wonderful read, here.

We must remember that without priests, there is no Eucharist. We must pray for vocations, both to priesthood and religious life.

Yesterday, we finished the kids’ room and moved them back in. The project that began in August and should have been a week long was not! It would have been had there not been so much prep work to do prior to painting. Alas, now it is done and I am thrilled. My plans for the paint job changed and now it is a simple blue with a light blue color on the trim.

We put all the kids in there and plan on working on the pink room a little at a time and it will take MUCH longer as EVERYTHING is painted pink, the outlets, the heat registers (oh and not the kind that you can pick up for a few dollars at Menards, but an old fashioned one :(), parts of the ceiling, parts of the doors, part of the carpet, you get the point. Never give a 13 year old a can of paint and say “go for it”.

This morning, K did not wake up with the rest of the kids, highly unusual. We sent M in to wake him up and he said he was still tired. I knew something was up but he was not feverish, so we told him he had to get up. Two minutes later, he puked. Joshua took M to Mass here at our parish and I will go to the parish in the town south of us later. Today is First Communion Sunday at our parish. The 11 am mass is usually a zoo anyway, so I will gladly drive to Delaware for mass.

I cleaned up the kitchen and washed a load of laundry in the mean time. K took a nap on the recliner and now is watching a dinosaur documentary. C is laying contently on my lap too, which is nice since she is teething and a crabby patty about it.  I hope to stuff and roast a chicken this afternoon for our dinner, stuffing sounds so good right now.

While I have you, would you mind saying a few prayers for our dear friend and K’s Godmother, Nan? She had surgery on her shunt (in her brain)  on Friday and there may have been complications. Please pray for this dear, holy woman. (though she would make me removed that last line if she saw it). Thanks!

Happy Sunday, Everyone. I hope all the teething babies are happy today and that anyone with puking kids gets a break!

Today we went to the wonderful Y family house for a Feast of St George Party. It was graciously hosted and the kids had a great time. They got to slay the dragon and for K, that was the best part! These pictures were taken at our church before we headed to the party. (I needed Papa’s help pinning the cape and wimple on the kids…plus we showed them off!)

Today we had a playdate at our house. I must say, I much prefer hosting than attending. Sure, there is the mess to clean at the end of the day, but I do not feel like I have to watch my kids constantly and I can just enjoy the visit with my friends. (Not that my friends’ houses are not comfortable, but I am so afraid that my kids will destroy something that I tend to hover over them and ignore my friends.)

Two of my friends came with their children, a total of five in all, four girls and a boy to add to our mix. One of the girls declared that she and M were friends. It was too cute. M does not have many chances to hang out with girls her age, so it is nice to see her playing with other girls. K took to the only other boy and they played together. In all, we only had a few tears but no fights, great success.

Of course, play dates are really just excuses for the mothers to get together. It is always wonderful to be able to talk to another adult and another like minded mother who does not think I am crazy for, well,  for being Catholic.

The rest of the week is full too. We are going to a St. George Party on Friday. I am working on the Knight and Princess outfit for the kids. We have watched “Sword in the Stone” a few times recently and K is obsessed with getting to be a knight, so he is very excited. J even fashioned him a sword out of cardboard and duct tape. M is excited to be a princess and has been very good at letting me try the dress on her. (I will post pictures of the completed project, soon.)

Happy Wednesday!

This past weekend, Joshua became a 4th Degree in the Knights of Columbus. He is forever to be  known as Sir Knight Joshua and I am Lady Beth. While I didn’t go out and buy a new dress for the occasion, (mainly because I did not want to spend the money on a maternity formal gown) J did get a tux. (Here’s an FYI, tuxes aren’t that expensive, $40 more than renting).

This is a picture of Joshua before the Exemplification (the part where he becomes a 4th Degree Knight) so his baldric (the sash looking thing) is not across his chest yet, that happened during the ceremony. Most people have asked where his cape and funny hat are. Those are for the men in the color guard along with a sword and not a required part of the 4th degree. They are also costly, so perhaps next year.

The men and women of the 4th degree are all very warm and welcoming. I was a bit afraid that I would have no one to talk to while he was off doing his thing, but that was not the case. The new Ladies were treated to a wonderful lunch and conversation and were welcomed warmly in to the 4th degree family.

After the 4th degree Exemplification (done in private but not “private” like say the Masons) we gathered together and attended Mass then we had a great great dinner. Who ever thought up the idea to put spinach in the mashed potatoes, whip them, then put them in a pastry bag to beautify the presentation?

Here are a few pictures of the two older kids on Easter Sunday.

Enjoy!

Yes! The day I have been waiting for since shortly after we signed our mortgage, the garage is no more. J’s brothers came out late Monday night and were up bright and early on Tuesday taking things down. It went pretty fast, but the guys were sore by the end of the day. I am thankful that it is down. It was such an eyesore and not useful for much of anything. Our neighbors seem to be pretty happy too. Hopefully the garage being down will hide the fact that our front porch really needs to be painted.

The first two pictures show the damage inside the garage. It looks like it sprung a leak at some point, with the prior owner, and it was never fixed. Some of the blocks in the foundation turned to dust at the touch, scary! As you can see in the bottom shot (even though it is a bit dark) the back yard is opened up a lot more. From my kitchen window, you can see the whole back yard, so I will not forget the garden this year (hopefully!)

Well, except for a picture of the boy sunning himself on a rock, we did not take any pictures this weekend. I thought about, the girls dressed in matching dresses, the boy handsome in a sweater and tie, but in the end, I just didn’t get the camera pulled out.

We went to Church for Holy Thursday and Good Friday. K was so excited to be able to venerate the Cross. When we got back to our pew, he whispered to me, “Mama, I wasn’t even shy!” I of course, held back tears as my two little ones venerated the Cross.  They love Jesus with all of their little hearts and worried so much about them this past week, as he was whipped and hurt.

On Holy Saturday, we prepared for Easter, baking bread, making Easter Pie and boiling eggs. I also made baklava this year! I “cheated” and used store bought phyllo dough, even then, it was time consuming, but totally worth it.

We went to the Vigil mass, where Joshua chanted the Exultet and the kids were mostly behaved. K fell asleep shortly before communion, but the girls were up and awake through the whole thing. After we enjoyed some snacks in the church hall, then came home and ate Easter Pie while visiting with friends. The kids fell asleep on the couch around 1 am and we hung out until about 2, then our friends left.We still had to put together the baskets and hide them. The kids had a great time looking for them and finding what presents they received for Easter. (A set of toy dishes for M and Legos for K and C, little and big blocks, respectively).

We ate our Easter Pie for breakfast as well as  hard boiled eggs and candy. We played with the new toys then sacked out on the couch during nap time, recovering from our sugar comas. I have to say that since I was pregnant with C, I have had a low tolerance for candy and soda, too much sugar for me and I just feel sick for a while after, so I only had a few pieces.

After we woke up, we started getting dinner ready. We had the traditional steaks, potato and asparagus with baklava and fresh fruit tarts for dessert. We also had a guest, our friend, Fr. Schalk from Delaware  (OH) came to visit. We had a great time with him. While J and I were putting the finishing touches on dinner, Fr. Schalk turned in to the cool uncle who comes to visit and the kids attacked him, it was great. (As a side note, it is wonderful seeing a young priest living his vocation and loving Jesus with his whole heart and not being afraid to  hang out with the kids for fear of “rumours”).

We visited for a while then Father had to leave, K had been sent to his room earlier and C was out, so it was just us two and M. Margaret did a great job of singing for us “Stainless the Maiden”, it was wonderful to hear her sing.

We finished the night with the end of “The Robe” (we had been watching it through out the day) then watched a Star Trek. K joined us for the second show and stayed up with Papa for “Short Circuit” and I headed to bed.

Happy Easter Monday everyone!