K and M begged to sing this song. I had to post it for you all. Yes, chaos reigns at our house and this video is just more proof of that.

Happy Advent

Edited to add more:

From the CNA:

Vatican City, Dec 19, 2009 / 12:12 pm (CNA).- In a recent round of authorizations by Benedict XVI on Saturday, Pope Pius XII was proclaimed as having displayed exemplary and “heroic virtue” in his life. The Holy Father’s decision to move ahead with the declaration rebuffs claims that Pius XII did nothing to help the Jews during World War II.  He now needs two miracles to be officially attributed to him to become a saint.

Pope Pius XII, born Eugenio Pacelli, is most remembered for being the Pontiff during World War II.  While some say he did little to protest the deportation of Jews and the Holocaust, written records and witnesses tell another story.  They testify to his actions in defense of the Jews.  Accounts of his intervention to save 4,000 Jews from a ghetto in Rome and place them in convents and Catholic schools refute claims of his passiveness.

In May of 2009, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, former president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, a seminarian during the War, said that he couldn’t remember anyone saying anything but good things about the Pope during that time.  No one, he said, would have described the Pope’s reaction as “silent,” as would be said of him later.

In an article published in L’Osservatore Romano on May 28, 2008, Cardinal Ruini wrote, “it was obvious, in the atmosphere and ecclesial praxis of the time,” that if many “priests and religious communities, and the Vatican itself, had taken in and saved many persecuted Jews  … it could not have been done without the encouragement and consent of the Pope.”

Ruini called the claims of inaction nothing more than a “black legend.”

Today’s declaration on Pius XII was not the only news-making announcement.

Pope Benedict XVI also declared Pope John Paul II and eight others as having lived lives of “heroic virtue.” With the signature of the Pope and the support of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, they have all taken another step towards sainthood.

My mom made it back last night safe and sound. When she got home, she found me on the couch with K and M by me. K was running a fever and M was just laying there. My mom sent me to bed and said she would wake me up if one of the kids needed me. About an hour later, she woke me up to tell me K was running a fever. Bah!  She stripped him and put a teeshirt on him and gave him son medicine and put him in bed with me. He slept there very nicely after that. When I woke up in the morning, she said M didn’t go to bed until 230! Ah, crazy travel and crazy things it does to the body clock. M ended up sleeping on grandpa’s chair until about 9 this morning. Grandpa’s chair is in the living room, the room everyone has to go through multiple times while getting ready for school and work. M slept through all of that!

The car was ready at 834 this morning. I got the kids ready and packed our stuff then my dad drove me up to the repair shop and I picked up the car. By 1115, I was gassed up and heading home, with the kids, of course.

The drive home was pretty uneventful. I planned on stopping to get lunch for us and the BK Lounge sounded pretty good. I have a rule that we either stop before getting on to 696 or we stop in Monroe. No stops in between. I ended up taking a detoured way to find one, but we did!  I probably should have waited, BK in MI is more expensive than it is south of the border. AND my Whopper Jr was pitiful, really pitiful. It was not filling either. Blah. Oh well, we are supposed to be meatless during Advent, so I shouldn’t complain.

The traffic wasn’t too bad on the way back, just lots of wind. In Ohio, there were lots of trucks, so I decided to take a back road home and found the drive quite pleasant.It was during that part that Karol insisted that we go camping. He even went so far as to tell me “I will talk to Papa about this when we get home”. Cute kid.

We got home, put things away, did some laundry, started bread for tomorrow then started getting achy. Urg. I am probably getting sick and not thrilled about it. After dinner, I showered and smeared on the Vicks Vapo-rub. I smell great

Now we are probably going to watch a show and I will hopefully fall in to peaceful slumber here on the couch.

I am writing from the back room at the Martin Homestead. I have a quiet house with just the sound of at Nickelodeon show in the back ground. The kids are watching a lame-o show that Karol is protesting. I just put on NCIS and that is being met with tremendous revolt. So now, Cartoon Network is on.

My kids have NO idea how to watch regular TV. At home, the few shows they watch are “on demand”. That means, they demand and I put on. K doesn’t realize that he isn’t able to just watch “George” anytime he wants. I rather like it that way.

Of course, you are probably wondering, why are they still there? Weren’t they supposed to take a quick trip for the family party and be back on Sunday? Well, that was the plan, until the trusty car died. So we have been camping out at the Martin Homestead since Friday night. We didn’t even get to go to the Kress party because we were the last to head out that morning and everyone had left hours before us. Sad face.

So we had the car towed up to a shop in the town north of here. Fortunately they were open until 4 pm. Sadly, they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the car. So, we did laundry and dug in. We were able to go to Mass on Saturday evening, using my Dad’s car. We spent yesterday hanging out. I made dinner for the family, meatloaf and baked potatoes. I made a sponge cake with egg white icing, a new thing for me. We then anxiously awaited a phone call from the shop today.

They called early and said it is blah blah blah and they would have it fixed this afternoon. Nope. At 430 we were informed that wasn’t going to happen. We had to come up with a B plan and that included renting a car to get back to Ohio so J could work. When we suggested that to the Martin Parental Units, that was met with, another suggestion.

So now, my mom is driving J down to Ohio (doing a round trip tonight, so say a prayer for her) and I am home with the kids. (I would have done the trip with J but Mom’s car is a stick and someone failed somewhere and I have never been taught how to drive a stick.)

Now I get to be in Michigan, enjoying cable tv until the car is fixed.  I hope it is fixed tomorrow, tv is pretty lame-o. Plus,  I miss J already.

I have started posts for the past few days and found them very hard to complete, so I just stuck them in the “draft” section. Today I will post an about our life!

What has happened this week? Well, on Monday, we celebrated Caecilia’s Baptism Day! Since we do not have daily mass at our parish on Monday’s we went down to Delaware for Mass.  On Monday, their daily Mass is at 530 pm, so we actually went to the Vigil Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  Fr. Schalk was the celebrant, but that wasn’t a surprise this time because we know he always has the Monday Mass. We got to talk to him for 3.5 seconds after Mass, always a treat.

We then went home to enjoy some pasta with lemon sauce and salmon. Then for dessert, we had company and some Angel Food Cake with a strawberry/whip cream filling. Yummers.

Tuesday we were up early because we were being visited by the Amish. We had ordered windows a month or so ago and Tuesday was the day they came to install them. The crew that came were Amish. We do like the Amish folk and these guys were really wonderful. They didn’t seem to mind the kids and even asked questions about them. The one guy told me he and his wife had an 8 month old and I resisted asking if they home birthed and asking who their midwife was. When they spoke to each other they used a sort of German dialect (read more here). It sounded like German but I didn’t recognize any words. Anyway, they finished in about 3 hours and were on their way.

J was in and out that morning as the Bishop came to our Parish to celebrate Mass! What fun. I stayed back with the kids and that was probably better. Even though I heart Bishop Campbell, the kids were coughing a bit and it seemed only right to stay home. I started my Christmas present baking, six different kinds of biscotti and they are all very good.

Wednesday we an ordinary day. We had a visitor for a few hours in the afternoon then we spent the evening just relaxing. We finally finished, after only five years the Chronicles of Narnia.  FIVE YEARS!  We got the book the first Lent we were married.  I think we planned on reading most of during that Lent. Ha. So now we are done…wonder what to read next.

This morning started out at 830! The kids slept until 830. Normally the food begging begins at 725, sharp! It was nice to get that extra bit of sleep, even if I did feel like a slug for doing it.

I made soup for dinner. Well, I cheated, I made this then added some cabbage and a handful of noodles. I then made some croûtons and dinner was served. It was pretty good. After dinner, I went out to get my hair cut. I feel like I am 20 again! I love it. It is short and sassy but long enough to be feminine. The lady who cut my hair is from Illinois. Batavia to be exact. We spent the entire time talking about the “old neighborhood”, it was pretty neat.

When I got home, J had some bad news for me. My phone was dead. It had this nasty habit of hot syncing all the time. I have no idea what it means all I know is that my phone will not work unless it is plugged in to the computer. Crud. Well, he called the phone company and they had him do some stuff and when that didn’t work, they said they would send us a new phone. Of course, J will probably get it, if it has a better interface for scheduling and stuff. Oh, well, I will gladly share the phone with him. I am thankful that it was free for us too.

J then cut K’s hair and because he was so well behaved, J told K he could have two biscotti.  I set him up with a cup of milk and two cookies. No interest from K for the cookies. Hmmm. But he is enjoying the show I put on for him.

Tomorrow we  head to the Great Lake state for the annual Kress Family Christmas. I am looking forward to seeing family again and eating some of the yummy food my aunt and uncle are going to cook up. I am bringing the biscotti and a jalapeño popper dip that we are  creating.

Happy Advent, everyone!

Showing her “Birthday Shirt”