Emilie...

Please pray for Emilie, a young wife and mother, suffering through her last stage of cancer.

Edited to Add: Emilie peacefully passed away in her sleep on Wednesday night. Her husband was with her and holding her hand.

May Her Memory Be Eternal!

From Office Building to Church: Part Sixteen...

A man in our parish is a talented artist, so the church commissioned him to paint "marble" on the bottom half of the walls of the church. A chair-rail was added and our rental building looks even more church-y then before!! My husband and one of the carpenters of the parish also added some height to the altar table and Table of Oblation and then stained the wood to match everything else a bit more. I'll post more pictures when everything is back in it's rightful place and the new liturgical covers and Christmas greenery are up!

I think that the white walls should be painted blue (like at this church), but I'm having a hard time convincing the priest... what do you think?

Preparing for Nativity: Days Eighteen and Nineteen...

With the exception of the tree (we'll get it on Sunday!!), the decorations are up!

Husband Meme...

I found this on Becky's blog and had a lot of fun doing it! I'll be checking my answers with my husband later!

1. He’s sitting in front of the TV: what is on the screen? Fox News, ESPN, or House

2. You’re out to eat. What kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Extra Bleu Cheese.

3. What is one food he doesn’t like? Corn Muffins

4. You go out to the bar. What does he order? You would never find him at a bar!

5. Where did he go to high school? The local public high school

6. What size shoe does he wear? 13

7. If he were to collect anything, what would it be? Books on theology

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? One PACKED with meat and cheese

9. What would the Husband eat every day if he could? Hmmm. Chicken Cordon Bleu?

10. What is his favorite cereal? Cracklin' Oat Bran or Cinnamon Toast Crunch

11. What would he never wear? Tight trousers

12. What is his favorite sports team? The New York Giants

13. Who is his best friend? Male: Mark. Female: Me.

14. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn’t do? Spend money on anything that isn't absolutely necessary for survival

15. How many states has he lived in? Five - Alaska, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland

16. What is his heritage? French, English, Irish, Russian, and Armenian.

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind? Lenten Chocolate Cake... His birthday is ALWAYS in Great Lent. If it wasn't, I think that he's choose ice cream over cake

18. Did he play sports in high school? Basketball and wrestling.

19. What could he spend hours doing? Working, reading, and being with his family.

Preparing for Nativity: Days Fifteen, Sixteen, and Seventeen...

Whew! Our whirlwind of mid-December visits is over! We had my sister arrive for an unexpected overnight a few hours after my mother-in-law left for home. As sad as I am to see our guests go, I am looking forward to getting back to the business of getting ready for Christmas!

I was able to accomplish quite a bit with my sister here! I mailed off the last of the packages to far-away friends and family, bought and wrapped gifts for family that we'll be unable to see (and sent the hefty bag home with my sister to dole out), took down the autumn garland and hung the winter one, arranged some wintery faux flowers to decorate the coffee table, and even got to visit!

These are the things that I'd like to accomplish before Sunday:

• Catch up on my Nativity Cleaning List
  
• Catch up on our Nativity Activity List
  
• Clean the house (I've been accomplishing this by Wednesday lately, so I am quite behind! It is so tempting to just wait for Monday to roll around again!)
• Evict the mouse in our house and disinfect the kitchen
• Catch up on laundry (Fortunatly, I am nearly caught up on washing things... folding? Not so much!)
• Buy the last two gifts on our list, get some stocking stuffers for DH, and black tights for our little girl
  

What have you fallen behind on?

Preparing for Nativity: Days Thirteen and Fourteen...

This weekend was a busy one! We had my mother-in-law and our son's godfather and his son visit (my MIL will be visiting until Tuesday morning). We also had a birthday coffee hour for our son (check out the cake a friend made!!), a trip to the beach and lots of errand running! With ten days to go before Christmas, you can bet that the posts until Nativity will be full of activities!

Preparing for Nativity: Day Twelve...

Since today was our little boy's birthday, we did some fun things! We had some yummy chocolate cake and our little man received a balloon and his filled out baby book as gifts (he'll be getting a handmade baby doll from my friend's etsy store later in the month as well!) and we took him to a nearby Living Nativity. If there is a Living Nativity in your neck of the woods, GO! You will love it! Here are some photos from our day:

A big cake shaped balloon:

Chocolate cake and Cool Whip:

The Big Boy's Serving:

Telling the Genealogy of Christ:

Showing the fields where Boaz met Ruth:

Telling of the Archangel Gabriel appearing to the Mother of God:

The Archangel Gabriel appearing the the Mother of God:

The Three Wise Men meeting with King Herod:

King Herod:

The High Priests:

The angels appearing to the shepherds:

The Roman Soldiers collecting the tax:

"No room at the Inn!"

The midwife:

The manger scene:

The Elder Zachariah and Prophetess Anna:

Angel telling of the Resurrection of Our Lord:

Happy First Birthday, Little Man!!

You've come a long way from your interesting birth, little one! We love you!!

Preparing for Nativity: Day Eleven...

There was no preparation for Christmas today... just lots of snuggling and enjoying a raining day from our cozy house!

Preparing for Nativity: Day Ten...

Yesterday was very hectic, but lots of fun! We had some church moms and their children over for lunch and a playdate. After the babies napped (they REALLY needed it!), we made these fast and very toddler friendly birdfeeders for the tree in our front yard. I was also able to polish our dining room table and chairs in preparation for all of the meals we will be having there during the holiday season.

I was really happy that I got all of our basic cleaning out of the way earlier in the week (very uncharacteristic for me!) because it is our son's birthday tommorrow and we are having my mother-in-law and our son's godfather and his son (a happy surprise!) over this weekend and into the begining of next week. It should be a really nice weekend!

Preparing for Nativity: Day Nine...

Today was spent trying to get the window of my oven door clean. I have no idea what is on it, but it is gross. I have tried using the self-clean feature on the oven, water and soap, Comet, Magic Eraser, and special oven cleaner. It is only a little better than how it looks in this picture. Any tips?

After I put the little ones to bed, I am going to be cleaning the whole downstairs. I did that last week and was able to clean everything and watch some tv while doing it in half the time it takes me to clean with the babies underfoot. I do like to clean with the children so that they are learning to work with me. However, with all that is going on this month it is easier to do it myself while they are sleeping.

I am feeling a little sad tonight, because we cannot find our little Nativity dolls. I have a terrible feeling that a little person put them in the bathroom trash can yesterday and I tossed them just in time for the garbage truck. Sigh.

Preparing for Nativity: Day 8...

Today was boring day as far as Christmas cleaning and preparations go. I finalized my lists for Christmas gifts and our Christmas dinner menu and cleaned out my desk drawers and cabinets. We also went and got our boy his first pair of shoes today. I had planned to get them for him and add them to his stocking, but it has been too cold for him to only have socks on. Plus, he is trying so hard to walk without holding on to anything. I'm hoping that shoes will help.

I also wanted to mention that I read An Orange for Frankie while we were at the library last week. I really enjoyed this book... so much so that it brought tears to my eyes as I read it on the worn carpet of the children's section! I recommend this book for your collection!

Preparing for Nativity: Day Seven...

We were hoping to get to go to a near-by town's Winter Wonderland Light Display this evening, but it is pretty cold and very windy here. With two little ones, it is probably better to wait! We pulled out our wintry Christmas candle instead. I love candle light in the fall and winter, don't you? It is so nice to be home on a chilly night and have the candle flickering and scenting the air...

Preparing for Nativity: Day Six...

Today was a wonderful and busy day! We began it with looking to see what we had received in honor of Saint Nicholas... chocolate coins and a wool felted Baby Jesus, Mother of God, and Saint Joseph!. We were also able to go to a Christmas party for the children in my Mom's Club!

I hung our winter wreath on the front door

and finally had a chance to create a dish cupboard for our two-and-a-half year old after being inspired to do so weeks ago! Having only the few dishes that our little one uses will work much better for us than having everything on a low shelf while our children are so young.

Preparing for Nativity: Day Five...

Well, I've just finished baking and decorating the St. Nicholas Cookies for tonight. We are going to have church, a movie on St. Nicholas, and refreshments at 7pm. I was also able to do my on-line Christmas shopping today and while our daughter was napping, I went to run a few errands with Little Man. We had fun getting some things at the health food store, the regular grocery store, and a consignment shop (Hurray for finding my FAVORITE skirt in a new color - a beautiful dark brown!!).

Preparing for Nativity: Day Four...

December 4th is our Little Man's Namesday! We had a pretty regular morning and early afternoon but at about 4:00, we had some yummy peach crisp (thanks to the advent cleaning out of the fridge and freezer, we had summer peaches to use!) for our special dessert and presents. Our boy loved the barn and animals that he received (as did his sister!). After we played a bit, we headed out to a Christmas Parade in a nearby town. It was the first time the children had been to a parade and the first time Fr. John and I were to one at night! It was really nice! Our little girl was very taken with the "princesses" (beauty queens) riding on the backs of convertibles. She even practiced their special beauty queen wave... We are in trouble with this one!

Preparing for Nativity: Day Three...

Sorting toys is something that I have needed to do for awhile. I normally do this every few months so that I can make sure that everything is organized and has the correct pieces. Because I put a few new baskets in the reading room, I was able to move our son's baby toys to the rectangular basket on the floor rather than the larger round basket they were in previously. It is so much better for him! He has been dragging it out from under the table all morning and playing with his things happily! I also went through our art supply cabinet (the one with glass doors). Though I like the look of the baskets, they hide a lot of junk!

Today's fun Christmas-y activity was the un-veiling of the Christmas and winter felt pieces for our felt board that I worked on this past weekend (Yours are in the mail, Courtney!!).

Here is St. Joseph, the Mother of God, and Baby Jesus:

Here are the winter felt pieces that I came up with:

I'd like to make a few animals and a maybe a little winter cottage, but I think it will be nice to make those things for mid-January when we put the Holy Family away and need something new.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow! It is our Little Man's Namesday and we have some fun things planned to celebrate!

Preparing for Nativity: Day Two...

I tidied up the front closet this morning - specifically the shelves above the coats. They had become a dumping ground for all manner of things. Now I have some room to hide a few presents!

We took a walk to the pharmacy at the end of our street where they were selling these sweet little holly bushes. A perfect centerpiece for our table! Don't get too excited over the red berries. They are faux.

Last night I bagged all of the chocolate coins we'll need for our shoes and for church on Saint Nicholas Day (December 6th). Don't forget the Saint Nicholas Center Website to help you get ready! It has tons of crafts, food ideas, stories, and book suggestions. We'll be trying this cookie recipe using a St. Nicholas cookie cutter (last one on page). We are also reading these stories to our children each night (with a few theological corrections:) ).

What Christmas preparations have you been doing?

Preparing for Nativity: Day One...

I've written out two lists for these next few weeks leading up to Christmas. One has all of the fun things that I'd like to do with the children: decorating, wrapping, baking, and special events (like a Christmas parade and Living Nativity!). The other goes through the house with daily projects I'd like to complete before the end of December.

Today, I tackled the children's books. They were getting a little out of hand and I noticed that there were many books we had two of or we don't read (thanks to all the books leftover from teaching!). I thinned out the shelves and added several baskets for sorting some of our more specific toys (balls, blocks, vehicles, etc.) .

Look how many we have to give away!!

After the de-cluttering was done, we took all of our Christmas and Winter books out and put them in a large basket for easy access. I even added ones I'd like to read (again) this year: Miracle on 34th Street, The Lion in the Box, The Mitford Snowman, Esther's Gift, and Christmas with Anne.

Next up, tidy the front closet and create a Winter centerpiece!