Happy New Year!!

To my friends, family and readers on the East Coast and moving west through the nation, may you have the peace, grace and blessings of God in your homes and families in 2009. To those here on the "left" coast, I wish the same... it's 11:20 pm here and I am going to go welcome in the New Year with my two oldest boys. Hubby, the girls and the baby are all already sleeping away... Happy New Year and goodnight!

Two Nights in a Row...

Not to jinx it or anything, but my little angel has slept through the night two nights in a row now! Woohoo!! I put him down anytime between 9 and 10 in the evening and he wakes at around 6. #4 didn't sleep through the night until I quit nursing her, and THAT didn't happen until I figured out I was pregnant with #5, but by THEN I was up in the middle of the nights to use the bathroom... wow... it's been awhile since I've slept through the night... : ) feels pretty good! Sssssshhhhhh!

My Elves...

I did one of these last year but had forgotten about it until some friends of ours sent us one with their own family pictures. I couldn't resist, so I made one of our own. It's fun! So, once you have a look, make one with your own family pics and then send it out to friends and family for a laugh!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

FINALLY! A Picture!

Happy Feast of the Holy Family! My friends and family know that every year I manage to dress the kids up and get them to sit still long enough to get a few good pictures in their "Sunday Best"... but with so much going on, and it's just not too easy with five... But I took advantage this morning after mass, when we were at grandma's and before they had a chance to change in to their play clothes... actually I threatened the boys that I would take away their new MP3 players if they didn't cooperate! lol! Anyway! It went smoother than I had anticipated and here is the result... They are, oldest to youngest, 12, 9, 6, 2 and 2 months (already!). We are very blessed... And I didn't notice until I downloaded these that you can see last years family Christmas picture sitting on Grandmas end table! lol! Minus Sam, of course... I hope to have another family picture done soon, with all of us...

Find the Sammy! : )

The kids thought it would be funny to surround their new baby brother with the girls' dolls this morning...

: )

A VERY Merry and Blessed Christmas to All!

I have been taking some extra time with my family over the holidays and put my blog on hold for a couple, but there are lots of pictures to come! We have been very blessed this Christmas with friends and family to share it with. I'm still looking forward to a hopeful visit from our beloved priest friend visiting from Sri Lanka... I will be back in the next day or two to share some with you of our Christmas... in the mean time enjoy these next twelve days of the Christmas Season as we contemplate the anticipation the Magi must have felt in their journey to meet the Christ Child, Emmanuel...

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!!

The local weather people are telling us it's a definite possibility. It's been 10 years since this valley floor has seen any... And it's certainly cold enough! Right now there is just some drizzling rain, but heck, if it's going to be wet and cold anyway, we might as well have SNOW!! My kids are all hoping beyond hope that it'll happen. Is there a Patron Saint of Snow? ; )

"The Priests" Sign Record Deal

and I Had to include a clip of them singing my absolute FAVORITE Christmas Hymn... Their voices give me chills... I understand that two of the three are actually blood brothers...



Their debut album is available now. What a GREAT Christmas gift idea!

Dear Santa...

Okay, so we hadn't done much Christmas shopping yet.... okay, we hadn't done ANY... Just with so much going on, and a little bit of dread and not wanting to deal with the crowds and trying to balance what the kids want and what we can actually afford AND keep everyone grounded on the TRUE meaning of the season, I had already discussed with each of the kids that we ARE a 'large' family by society's standards and we are also a single income family on a tight budget. Don't get yourselves psyched up and set your minds on "big ticket" items... it just ain't gonna happen... we can't afford it and neither can Santa... I think we are like most other parents who want to do and give nice things to their kids, but just can't afford a lot of the things that kids seem to be in to these days... and times 5, well, it gets expensive... Anyway, I had set mine and the kids thoughts on preparing our baking gifts for the season and shopping has been avoided thus far...

Lo and behold hubby brings in the mail yesterday afternoon and opens a Christmas card sent from no return address. Inside was a note from "Santa" explaining that he was having some trouble with elves and ran out of time to do any shopping for us but enclosed a lovely gift card for us to do some shopping of our own for us and each of the kids... completely unexpected but so appreciated... : ) it was signed "Love, Santa"... So Santa, if you're reading this, we got it... and thank you from the bottom of our hearts... It was so very thoughtful... and a VERY Merry Christmas to you and YOUR family!

Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Clause.... ; )

My Sister-in-Law...

God love her... I only have one brother in my family, so I only have one sister-in-law from my sibs, and I guess after being a part of our family for 31-plus years now, she really DOES know me! lol... This was a "new mommy- again" gift from her for me. It's a purse, and when I saw it I laughed so hard I got tears.... It really says it all... I asked her if when she saw it at the store it was surrounded by neon lights and arrows pointing around it saying "Buy THIS for Lee!!" ?... Yup... she knows me : )

GREAT Family Movies...

Hubby found some great family movies on sale at the local Christian Bookstore last week... If you haven't seen them already, these are GREAT family oriented movies that are VERY SAFE AND entertaining for the entire family. And some GREAT lessons taught, to boot! Hubby and I totally enjoyed watching something that we could watch with the kids where we didn't have to worry about being on guard to "ff" or cover their eyes! : )
















Flywheel
























Facing the Giants











and Bella

All three were on sale here locally, and are movies we will watch again and again... They also had Fireproof (due out in January) on sale if you pre-ordered it, for only $12.49. Fireproof was from the same makers of Flywheel and Facing the Giants. So, you might check out your own local Christian or Catholic bookstores to see if you can find them! They would make terrific Christmas gifts!

O Mary, Conceived Without Sin...

Pray for us, who have recourse to thee! Amen.

Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception....

Now, back to my sick babies...

I've Always Loved to Sing...

From the time I was very young I would sing along with the radio, play my favorite albums and memorize my favorite songs, then practice singing in to my hair brush over and over again... I sang in choirs in school, from elementary to college. I've sung liturgy at Mass and have sung for several weddings. I guess that's probably why I have always liked American Idol... I think back to how badly I wanted to be a professional singer when I was young and what would have happened if I had had the guts to pursue that career... but I digress... : )

This video of these young, talented men reminded me and brought back lots of memories that I have of singing as part of a group. I loved the harmonizing and how much fun it was to sing together in a choir. Two of my best girlfriends and I always had fun picking different parts of songs and singing them in harmony, just for the fun of it. You can tell that these guys are just having a blast! and the crowd is loving it... Enjoy!

I've been "tagged"...

By Linda from Don't Poke the Baby. This is pretty easy, though... list 6 things that make you happy then tag your friends... hhhmmm let's see...

6. Holding a new baby (complete with "new baby" smell...) curled up in a little ball quietly sleeping on my chest...
5. When my husband lets me put my cold feet up against him to warm them up in the bed...
4. The quiet of a church filled with the smell of candles (not the smelly ones, just the plain ole beeswax prayer candles smell...)
3. Getting together with my friends and family,siblings, cousins, etc...
2. The sound of my children's uncontrollable laughter when playing together...
1. "Light bulb moments" with my kids, when you KNOW that something FINALLY clicked with them that you've been trying to teach...

Okay. Now it's time to tag some friends... How 'bout:

Melissa at Almost Catholic Momma
The Mom at Shoved to Them
the Expresso Catholic Mom
WICatholic
and Occultus Matris at Keeping Up With the Comptons

Now, you're it! ; )

Sam's BIG Day!

What better way to begin the season of Advent then to welcome an new son of God?? As my 6 year old so brilliantly stated early Sunday morning as she was getting ready for Mass, "Mommy, today Sammy will become a "son of God"... right now he's just a "child of God", right?"... : ) she answered her own question, from only a few days before. We were discussing how our baptism makes us sons and daughters of God when she asked me, "What are we before we are baptised?" knowing that she was concerned about her new baby brother's status... I wasn't really sure how to explain it to her without going in to something over her head and more than she would want to hear or comprehend...

So here are the pictures of Sam on his big day... My niece, who happens to be MY God-daughter, and my nephew are the new God-parents. Monsignor Frost did all he could to get even just a "peep" out of Sam before, during and after he was baptized, but our little angle was good as gold! Even opening his eyes wide to greet his parish family afterwards!

After Mass we went to the breakfast that was being held in the church hall by the Knights of Columbus, where one of the knights kindly reserved two tables for Sam and family... : ) Later that afternoon, my nephew was gracious enough to have a bbq, complete with a cake in Sam's honor! We are certainly blessed!