Battle Hymn of the Republic

A friend sent me THIS LINK of a high school performing the Battle Hymn of the Republic, they did a beautiful job!!

"Get a load of these high school kids. At the conclusion listen to the highnotes on the trumpet, played by a high school kid! One of the fathers recorded it, added some graphic enhancements to the recording, and posted it on the web.The song, of course, is the 'Battle Hymn Of The Republic.'Be prepared....It will definitely send a few shivers up your spine."

Celebrating the Baptism of the Lord

As the girls are getting older, we are trying harder to incorporate and celebrate the liturgical year in our home. Not only to increase their knowledge of our faith, but also to encourage them to live it, enjoy it, and celebrate it!! Their young ages still limit the amount of information you can give them or activities you can do, but is allowing me to start forming traditions and gather ideas for the next years!! Here are some things we enjoyed yesterday to help us remember this special day all day long!!

Angel enjoyed coloring THIS PAGE of Jesus being Baptized:

We all enjoyed working this Baptism Crossword Puzzle...and even got stumped on how to spell anoint or annoint....hehe

(thanks Jessica for the links for these activities)

Since the Christian symbol for Baptism is a shell, I bought some fun shell necklaces to wear (although the guys opted out of this)...decorated the table with shells...and made this yummy Nacho Stuffed Shell recipe for dinner (with Marmee and Alli). The recipe definitely is a keeper and we garnished with sour cream, salsa, cheese and fresh avocados. For dessert, I made Christ's Diapers and they were yummy and MAKE A LOT!! It was an interesting dough that I have never done before...so if you like to knead, try it out. It was amusing asking people if they wanted to eat Christ's diapers...Angel was a little confused!! But, most of them did look like a diaper...except for the ones that exploded when dropped in the fryer.

And since this day is a good time to also talk about and remember our own Baptisms...I made the centerpiece of the table be Angel's, Emma's and my baptismal candle. (Jason's is still in VA...note to self we need to get!). (see picture above of table). It looked really beautiful...and I just used an advent candle holder for it. I also made books for Angel's baptism and Emma's baptism, so it is always fun to pull those out and look at them as well.

Almighty, eternal God, when the Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism in the Jordan, you revealed him as your own beloved Son. Keep us, your children born of water and the Spirit, faithful to our calling. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Thanks Dr. Bowman

Angelica received a packet in the mail the other day from our dentist, wonderful Dr. Bowman, and since she hasn't been in since August (her only time so far)...I was curious as to what was inside. And.....here it is:

They take the kids pictures after they are done and post them on their wall....so I am thinking maybe at the end of the year they mail them to folks so they can start over again. They included a NO CAVITY certificate and several stickers. Angel was delighted and it helped encourage her even more to keep those teeth clean!! (she looks so little in that picture..sniff sniff)

Fight FOCA

We started this along with so many (hopefully) last night and encourage ALL to join in the novena to help FIGHT FOCA....it has such serious and scary repercussions should this become law....PRAY and FAST...LIVES depend on it!!

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If you are opposed to abortion, please read the information below and join us in prayer and fasting January 11-19, 2009.

The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) will be signed into law if Congress passes it on January 21-22, 2009. The FOCA is the next sick chapter in the book of abortion. If signed into law, all limitations on abortion will be lifted, resulting in the following:

1) All hospitals, including Catholic hospitals, will be required to perform abortions upon request. If this happens, Bishops vow to close down all Catholic hospitals - more then 30% of all hospitals in the U.S.

2) Partial birth abortions will be legal and have no limitations.

3) All U.S. taxpayers will be funding abortions.

4) Parental notification of abortions on minors will no longer be required (regardless of age).

5) The estimated number of increase in abortions is 100,000 annually.

Just as important, the government will now have control in the issue of abortion. This could result in a future amendment that would force women by law to have abortions in certain situations (rape, Down Syndrome babies, etc) and could even regulate how many children women are allowed to have.

Needless to say this information is disturbing, but sadly true. As Catholics, as Christians, as anyone who is against the needless killing of innocent children, we must stand as one. We must stop this horrific act before it becomes a law.

PLEASE JOIN US IN saying a novena and fasting from January 11-19. For Catholics, the prayer of choice is the rosary for the special intention of stopping the FOCA. For non-Catholics we encourage you to pray your strongest prayers with the same intention for 9 consecutive days. We hope and pray this will branch and blossom to become a global effort.

Please do the following 3 things:

1) Pass this information on quickly (so as many as possible can start praying on January 11)

2) Say a novena from January 11-19, asking God to prevent the FOCA from becoming law in the U.S.

3) Fast at least 2 days during this novena (either a complete fast of bread and water, or a Lenten fast of no meat and meals limited to 1 regular meal and 2 lesser meals during the day).

Remember that with God all things are possible and the power of prayer is undeniable. If you are against the senseless killing of defenseless children, please join us in prayer and fasting.

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EWTN has a good election prayer , which we will be adding to pray for our President Elect and his change of heart for life issues.

Finally!!

For the LONGEST time, Angel has been saying the Hail Mary as if they were two separate prayers...the Hail Mary part then Amen...then the Holy Mary part and Amen. And she always stumbled over "fruit of your womb Jesus". But...she seems to have finally figured out all the words and just LOVES to "show Mary" how she has learned her prayer...Mary must love to hear the prayers of the little children!!

Thanks Aunt Ann

...the girls are loving their store!! Angel makes me come buy things all day long...and I have to go to the window!! Emma loves the cash register. Very generous gift, the accessories for it are already on their wish list!

Just Chillin...

...and watchin some Little Bear.

Ice Cream Talk

New Year Update

I meant to post about New Year's when it happened....but better late than never, right? It was nice to have my mom home and she cooked us all a very delicious new chicken recipe...but as usual...she combined several recipes to make her own, so not even sure if she can remember what she did!! Caitlin also made some very yummy Sangria! (Sis, still need to get that recipe!) Then my parents offered to watch the girls while Jason and I joined my sister Caitlin and her fiance Casey to actually go to a theater to watch a movie!! We had been laughing because the last time we were at a movie theater was when I was pregnant with Angelica in 2006 and saw Narnia!! Wow, have our lives changed since then!! So we went and THOROUGHLY enjoyed the movie, VALKYRIE. An amazing story about truly a brave and virtuous man....loved it!! Still want to google his family and see what his wife (who just recently passed away) and children ended up doing. It was nice too because the theater was practically empty!! I was commenting on how nice the seats were and Casey replied that it must have been a long time since I was in a theater...hehe. So while we enjoyed the film, Angel and Emma had fun time watching one too with Marmee and Poppy. We made it back with ten minutes to spare before we wished everyone a Happy New Year!!

On New Years Day we decided to host (what has now turned into our annual) Holiday Open House. We invited the young couples and friends we knew and then additional friends and family for later on. It was a lot of fun to use all the Christmas serving dishes I have and cook yummy foods and drinks. The homemade Egg Nog was a hit and of course the lumpia went fast!! Thanks Mom Hartsell for my new gorgeous poinsettia platter that I used to hold the chocolate cherry cake (which Angel thought was a big donut) which you can see in the pic. Love it! And thanks to the Herrings, Beuchels, Cichy, Campbells, PopPop, My Family, Sullivans, Linda, and Grays for stopping by...it was great to see all of you and hope to next year as well. Angel had a blast with the open food, candy canes and all the dancing with the girls!! I think next year though Jason will decide to take the following day off!! Happy New Year.

Happy Girl

Toddler Talk

Some very funny things Angel has said lately:

1) After I made a tube cake for a party...she looked at it and told Aunt Caitlin, "Wow...that is a really big donut!"
2) We have been working on the difference between girls and boys and the words man and woman. So at the post office today, she looked at the worker and said "You are a man!" At least he had a good sense of humor!
3) We have been so busy celebrating these past couple of weeks and each day explaining what we are celebrating for the special days. So today, Angel asked me "Mama, what day are we?" I said, "Today is Thursday." To which she replied, "No mama, what is special today?" I think I will definitely have to start celebrating a Saint a Day or something!!
4) When we had all the snow and we got stuck in the car....Jason was out shoveling a path for the car....and I must have heaved a big sigh....to which Angel said, "Don't worry mama, papa will save us and fix it!" So sweet to have total trust in your superhero Papa!!

Thanks Joanie

...for my adorable outfit!

Baseball Fan in Training

A Reminder...

...today as I was reading and watching the news of the House and Senate officially declaring Barack Obama our next President...all those post-election feelings starting resurfacing. And then I remembered this wonderful homily that our friend, Father Cihak, gave his congregation after the Election. Please pray for him as you can see by this article, the truth of his words were not well received by all...like they say, "the truth hurts!" I continue to pray for our priests to lead the Church in the right direction, for Catholics to live their faith, and for our next President and the important decisions he must make ahead.

Happy Epiphany!!

We had a lot of fun celebrating the Epiphany today. We started with eating some delicious Gift of the Magi Bread for breakfast, which looks just as pretty as is tastes!! Says it will make two big loaves, so I managed to get one big loaf and then two small ones to give away out of the recipe. Then we read the Nativity story and really focused and learned about the Wise Men (I definitely need to get a Three Kings book for next year!) Angel enjoyed telling me all about the story after that and we must have listened to the Music on the Three King snow globe we have about a thousand times!! I cut out a paper crown (I am no Martha Stewart so don't laugh) and had Angel color it to wear later...Emma tried to help but Angel wasn't too fond of sharing and Emma still mostly wanted to color the furniture. We decided instead of a King Cake we would make cupcakes. So Angel put on her new apron she got from Aunty Megs and Marmee from NYC and "helped" me make the yummy chocolate cupcakes....I actually only have one 12 muffin tin and since the recipe made 24, I decided just to make 3 mini cakes...perfect for the Three Kings. Angel is actually getting very good at holding and dumping the ingredients...but by far her favorite part is still licking the beaters!! I then colored the icing yellow to symbolize the gold crowns and decorated them as best I could to look like crowns. And of course, one of them held a hidden coin and whomever finds it at dessert gets to wear the crown and hand out the presents!! And the winner was ANGEL!! She was very excited and I think a little confused by there was money in her food! So she put on the crown and eagerly started handing the gifts out. Three gifts for everyone (just like baby Jesus received)....and Angel enjoyed opening (I mean helping) them all! Emma liked her gifts but really wanted some of Papa's gummy bears!! It was a fun day for us, filled with focus and meditation on the Journey of the Three Kings and lots of new traditions on how we will celebrate it. I would like to come up with a traditional King Feast for dinner (last night we just did chicken curry) and would also like to add a House Blessing.....I am sure things will change over the years, but these little activities today really made the Epiphany come alive and help even Angel have an understanding about this special day. Happy Epiphany (and remember the Christmas season isn't over until Sunday this year!)

Not Again!!

Yes, this is the scene right now...another 2-3 inches of snow falling!!! Just when the last of the past snow storm was melting!! I am hoping that my poor hubby who just put in a 12 hour day can get home from Seattle!!
UPDATE: We now have SIX inches of snow...Jason did a 360 in his car in Seattle....decided to wait an hour for the Bremerton ferry instead of driving around...was going 5 mph coming home and spun out and ran into a side concrete wall (no damage done) to only get stuck (as usual) getting into our development. After shoveling his way with no success, a nice good Samaritan towed him into our court and he parked at the top of the hill. I spent the whole night shoveling our driveway and walkway so it won't all freeze or block us in....and in my husband's words, "I am AWESOME!" Hoping this stops soon!!

Christmas Home Tour

Faith and Family Live was doing a fun post to see what everyone puts up and decorates for the Christmas season....so I thought I would join in!!! Here are some of our favorites....

I love white Christmas lights and candles in the window....we have a tree in front of the house that looks like a Christmas tree that we put lights on...I made the two wreaths on either side of the garage and the big one above it. And yes...they are decorated with poinsettias just can't see in the dark!!

The front of the house
Love the garland on the porch and around the door. And finally figured out how to make the red bows!! And did you notice the poinsettias??

The place where I wish I had a mantle....and always nice with a fire glowing!!

The perfect place to put our Christmas cards, and the small ceramic nativity on top I have had since I was a little girl...

I made and decorated this tree the first year we were married...

Angel loves the mistletoe (and if you can't tell already I love poinsettias)

The girls new advent calendar...one my Mamasan had given us

Jason's baseball tree (he collects the Hallmark yearly collective ornaments)

I love the stair garland (again I add gold and red poinsettias and holly berries)

This is the most special....I had a Nativity scene IDENTICAL to this growing up that my PopPop made...when I got married I was so sad that I didn't have it around anymore...so my dear husband made an EXACT replica for us!! He painted and then I spent hours making the bushes, the mossy roof and the hay inside. We used an OFF lid to create the fire glow light. WE LOVE IT and this is where Angel loves to say her Angel of God prayer!!

Our tree with all the beautiful hand made ornaments from my Meme...thinking of adding some berry branches next year and maybe a red Angel on top!

Our Blessed Mother with the appropriate holiday background and beautiful Poinsettia candles that my mother-in-law got us from Princess House, so pretty when they are lit.

My grandparents hutch, my Mamasan always had one drawer open with flowers in it, so I have kept up that tradition as well!!

The table where we all gather to eat and enjoy company!
Please share yours!!!