Celebrating A Life and A Recommendation

Today we are celebrating and remembering the life of our sweet little Mary Joseph, who was miscarried 3 years ago this very day.  Though her life was very short, we keep her memory alive by asking her for prayers every day, and talking about her, and looking forward to the time when we will get to see her again.   

I also have a book recommendation.  It is titled After Miscarriage: A Catholic Woman's Companion to Healing and Hope. The author is Karen Edmisten, a talented writer whose blog I follow.  She has herself suffered multiple miscarriages and has written about the subject on her blog.  Although I have not yet read the book (due to be released Feb. 13), I just know it will be great.  There has been a definite lack of Catholic reading material concerning miscarriage.  Here is the description from Amazon:

After Miscarriage: A Catholic Woman's Companion to Healing and Hope is a book about grief, healing, and hope after miscarriage. Not afraid to examine the raw emotions that accompany such an experience, the author tells women that they are not alone in reacting strongly, even frighteningly, to their loss and reassures them that hope and healing will come. Having experienced multiple miscarriages herself, Karen shares excerpts from her personal journals, as well as other women's stories, rich quotes about grieving and the healing process, and practical advice. A helpful resource section includes a wide variety of information from both Catholic and secular sources.

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Mary Joseph, pray for us!

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To Grandmother's House We Go

Although we did not travel in a sleigh, there was lots of snow when we got to Grandma's house a few days before Christmas.  Here we have only had a quarter of an inch, so the kids were extremely excited to see all the snow.

Watch out!  I'm making snowballs!

Anne makes a snow angel.

Dominic after a ride down the hill.

Daddy gives Catherine a big push.

The kids were happily waiting to open some presents.

Dan's mom with Catherine.

Oh, what fun!

Our resident Superhero is thrilled with Spiderman pajamas.

That evening Dan and I took Anthony over to visit with Dan's sister and family.  She is Anthony's godmother. 

I can't let them see I like it, so I'd better just stick my hands in my pockets!

A visit to the outdoor nativity at the church.

Inside St. Fidelis Church.

Anthony checks out the nativity.

Water and Mud

In December we had a lot of rain, which seemed strange after a very dry year.

Flooding in the back yard.

A flood stream going down to the pond.  We haven't seen this in a long time.

After the flood, comes the mud.  And what boy (or girl, for that matter!) doesn't like to play in the mud?

Look at those clothes!  They were so muddy, they left the washer dirty after I ran the load.  I had to wash the load three times in a row to get them and the washer clean!

Those boots are actually yellow. 

If You Got A Somewhat Mangled Gift From Us This Year...

...this is why...

...and this is the culprit.

Pre-Christmas Party

Time to eat!

Table #2

Girl cousins

Boy cousins

I Found It Funny

Earlier today I stopped to do some shopping with all five kids at Sam's Club.  I got a cart, put Anthony in the seat and made all the kids hold onto the cart so we could go inside.  As we walked up the parking lot aisle, I noticed a woman sitting in the passenger seat of a car staring at us.  Her eyes were opened wide and as we passed by, I could plainly seeing her counting...one...two...three...four...and then her head whipped around to see if there were any more.  She looked quite silly and I had to laugh to myself. 

Real Life

Okay, so one Sunday morning we attempted to get a nice picture of the kids in front of the Christmas tree.

Wait, let me fix something.

Two happy girls, one solemn boy, and one very unhappy little boy.

Now, we're waiting for the wee one.

Oh, dear.

"I do not want to be here right now!"

This was the best one we got, and we finally gave up.  At least I can now look at these pictures and find it funny!

Our Christmas Tree

On the third weekend of Advent we put up and decorated our Christmas tree.  The four big kids and I worked on it while Anthony took his nap.  We barely had enough time!

The kids took turns getting on the step stool to put ornaments up higher.

Catherine places an ornament just so.

One of the kids swiped the camera.  I had to delete a lot of pictures but this one of Anne was funny.

Dominic's turn.

My four helpers, proud of their work.

I liked this picture that one of the kids took.

Joseph smiles for the camera.

Oh, Anthony was very excited to see the Christmas tree, and could not keep his hands off of it.  

We ended up with 4 or 5 broken ornaments and many of the rest ended up on the top third of the tree.  Several times I caught him standing on a step he had carried from the bathroom so he could reach higher.

A miracle:  all five of them facing the camera, if not all looking the same way.  You take what you can get!

Before Christmas

A few weeks before Christmas, when the weather was nice, Dan got the outside Christmas decorations out.

Bringing a load from the shed.

Hold on tight!

The kids check out the reindeer.

Anthony was fascinated, especially when the reindeer's head started moving back and forth.

A few days later, when we had cousins here, Dan pulled the nativity over to the front of the house.

A few little munchkins hitched a ride.

Joseph, Mary, Baby Jesus, and the adoring children!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Our family on Christmas Day after Mass.

I have a big backlog of posts to do, so watch out!

Been There, Did That

Joseph, mischievously: Hey, Dominic, let's eat some Play-Doh and see what it tastes like.

Dominic:  No!

Joseph:  Why not?

Dominic:  Because I did before and it's yucky.

Anthony At 21 Months Old

You wouldn't think this cute little guy would ever cause any trouble, right?

One day, I was just getting started with making dinner, and the kids were playing a loud, rowdy game in the living room.  I thought Anthony was in there with them, and then all of a sudden it got very quiet, as the kids finished their game.  I said, "Where's Anthony?!"  No answer.  So I went looking for him. 

I went in my bedroom to see this:

Then I looked into the bathroom:

And around the corner of the bed:

A few days later he got hold of some toothpaste and squirted it all over the bathroom floor.  It smelled very minty in there for a while. 

He climbs, oh does he climb!  He climbed onto a kitchen chair, got on top of the desk in the kitchen, and proceeded to somehow open the very top cabinet and get out a bottle of vitamins, which he then opened and dumped out onto the floor.  All that while I was changing a load of laundry. 

He easily climbs up to the top bunk and throws things at the kids on the floor below.

Oh, and he can climb from a regular chair into his highchair, onto the table, back into the highchair, etc.  Sometimes he sits like this:

He is so cute and funny and loving, though, it is hard to stay mad for long!  He currently likes to play with blocks and build tall towers, he loves to jump off things like the coffee table, he likes the train track and trains, he likes to pretend with the little kitchen, he likes Hot Wheels, he likes to dump things out, draw on things with markers, take things apart, break things, destroy things, and of course, go outside!

Our sweet little Anthony