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!

Palm Sunday brought us a special visit from a Very Special Priest Friend.

We were supposed to go to Mass in Columbus, but M threw up 15 minutes before we were to leave, so I took K and went to Mass here. After that fine “treat”, we came home and found that M was feeling a bit better and resting on the couch. We ate a quick breakfast then began to prepare for the visit of our Very Special Priest Friend (VSPF). In the mean time, Joshua went to the 11 am Mass (for which I owe him big time). Oh and we tried to get a hold of VSPF, but he was giving a retreat, and did not get our message. When he arrived, he was fine with staying for dinner.

Our visit was wonderful and the kids rallied and felt better by the time he arrived. K woke up from his nap and said “Is Father here!!??!!” and ran down stairs. M had to be coaxed to come down, but she did and had a great time sharing books with Father. C played around Father, but did not warm up to him until later, but that is that way she is with everyone new.

Father encouraged us in our decision to home school and that is always nice. We also talked of how “open” the world is now, with the internet. Hence, the reason our friend is called VSPF, so if he is Googled, I would rather this blog not come up and I am sure he feels the same way.

After a nice dinner, we took pictures, shown above, including, K, possible future priest. I have no idea how to make them bigger, but if you click on the, they will be full size. (Sorry for my ineptness).

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your eyes, for I have happy news to share. The Facefamily is welcoming another little one to our family! He/She should be making his/her debut in Mid-September.

The first trimester is long gone and mostly a happy memory. I felt bad for a few weeks then things went back to normal. I am on to week 14 and feeling great! We had our first Midwife appointment today and all is well with both the baby and myself.

The other Facekids are very excited. Nearly every day they climb on to my lap and talk with the baby. Faceboy has asked for a baby brother and likes to have us draw pictures of what the baby looks like. (Thankfully he doesn’t have too high of standards, as an artist, I am not).

Thank you and please keep us in your prayers!

**Edited to make sense**

Tonight I went to our parish mission and it was so awful that I had to leave early. We were told, by the mission priest,  that Jesus did not know he was divine until He all of a sudden had all sorts of scripture infused in his mind. Who the heck ordained this man? Who the heck lets him go out and preach lies to a uncatechized masses who do not know any better?

When I arrived home, after venting to my husband, I found this wonderful quote :

“By that blessed vision which He enjoyed when just received in the womb of the Mother of God, He has all the members of the Mystical Body continuously and perpetually present to Himself.” – Venerable Pope Pius XII

The rest of the article can be found here: http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/incaa2.htm

Of course, I sat through that part, just taking it all in but I had to leave when he decided that it was time for all of us to “stretch”.  It was yoga, simple yoga, but yoga nonetheless.

http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0275.html

Priests, lay leaders, listen up: The people of the church do not want fluff. We want true teachings. We want the hard truths. We want authentic Christianity. We do not want something watered down to make us feel good about ourselves. If we wanted that, we would join another church.

A  priest needs to  have respect and dignity for his office, it is not a stage, but a bridge between heaven and earth.