Celebrating a new saint!

This weekend was a big weekend in the church! We have some new saints, two of them from the US! St. Kateri Tekakwitha and St. Marianne Cope.

I need to get my act together and arrange a Hawaiian themed meal to celebrate St. Marianne, but today the girls and I celebrate St. Kateri with a sweet treat. We made St. Kateri's Edible Indian Corn treats. The girls were such good helpers! They pretty much did it all themselves!

The best part was sharing! It was a really good day. I've been bad about really celebrating feast days this past year. What a way to make faith fun! I need to do the effort  - it doesn't take much and the kids love it so much. Sigh.

Happy Year of Faith to you all!!

Gift FINALLY has a bedroom. *UPDATED*

I'm beginning to think that nurseries are for first time babies lol (and I've heard that before too).

With our first, Lovely, we spent months before her birth getting her room ready, picking things out with care. I was working then and she was in her own room pretty fast so I could sleep for work. Getting her room ready was so fun! I wish I had a digital pic to show of that in our old condo....(though the bedding and curtains are the same in Valiant's photos below).

Then, when Valiant came along, I was a SAHM, and we co-slept. She stayed with us more than 6 months and did not need a bedroom. We had moved to a new home, and the room Lovely got (the one closest to our bedroom - great for wee ones) was never repainted from the previous owners (a slate blue), or anything. It wasn't even cute.

Before we moved our stuff in. I don't have any real pics of Lovely's room when she was 2 years old.

Ok - I found this picture of toddler Lovely asleep in her bed. Her room was not decorated at all - poor thing lol.

HA! Around that point, we moved Lovely to a bigger room, and painted her new room all girlie with the help of friends with a mural on the wall, etc. Baby Val got the old room - in that slate color. No fuss (Big sister got all the room love). Around her 1st b-day, hubby painted her room two tones of purple.  So - she finally had a "nursery" - and she wasn't a baby anymore lol!!!

the revamped Valiant's room - the bedding and curtains were Lovely's from our old condo.

Her cross was from her Aunt - the prayer underneath from old friends.

The other side of the room - and our family rocking chair.

Then, came Gift. Again, Gift co-slept with us for months. When we finally moved Valiant into Lovely's room to share and moved Gift into the old room,  it was never repainted for a "boy" (and our 1st boy! You would think we'd be all excited to decorate for a boy). He was sleeping in a girlie purple room. THEN his room became storage for a massive clean out and clothing purge. Poor guy. His room was only used for sleeping and storage....great parents, huh? Poor kid.

The girls share Lovely's room - here was the painting job done by our incredible family friends - amazing plaid mural! (This is a different bedroom than the above pics).

The other painted wall. So AMAZING! You can see the bottom bunk sticking out in the pic. We took that down for the toddler bed below.

Here the girls share the room - the top bunk loft - with a toddler bed underneath. The bunk bed was mine as a child!

Well - this weekend that all changed. He has his boyish room! A few months ago, I went to a garage sale and stumbled on a bunk bed bedding set with matching wall hangings and hooks for a steal along with pillows, etc in PERFECT condition. It was race car themed. The deal was too good (especially knowing we have bunk beds he'll be using) so I laughed and said "Gift...you will have a race themed room" - HAHA! So, the bedding and some of the wall hangings are a nice red color with cars on them in blue, yellow/orange, and green. I used the blue color in the bedding for the wall paint.

The race car bedding. I love the reds, blues, yellows, and greens in the fabric.

The dresser goes with his future bunk bed (and that bunk bed "to be" was MINE as a girl - the top bunk loft currently is being used by Lovely. This dresser was mine) and the rug was found at that same garage sale. The rocking chair was my mother's and all of us were rocked in it - a treasure. So, everything in this room was either free, a gift, inherited, or found on sale/consignment. I take pride in deals and family treasures lol!!

Oh - the blurry places in the pics? They are anything personalized with his name. Sorry internet! :) 

And, in a way his room became a theme of "race car" meets "Corduroy the bear" with the wall hanging, the bear, and that "lost button" blanket.

View from the door (the wall with the cross is his closet). Gift's Godmother made the cross.

View from the closet.

Most of his room showing.

Top of dresser - that is his baptismal candle and baptismal picture. His Godmother made the frame.

This frame was from Gift's Aunt - my sister.

Wall art from my sister and Gift's Godmother

another homemade frame

Racing clothing hooks

It WAS fun to put the room together....so the thrill of new life, new bedrooms, and precious children IS still there - even if it was late... :) I still need to get a light switch plate in red, and make curtains, but that will come soon!

We love you Gift - welcome to your space. Well, for now....LOL!

You are SO loved!!!!
(your sisters too!!)

"soul" food!

Well, more of our journey into the world of Feast Day celebration :)

I think I've mentioned this past year was our first (and very much Lovely led) excursion into a side of our faith I honestly never grew up with - Saints. I don't feel we talked about saints a lot in Catholic school either, or it didn't make a big impression on me - but I have found it to be really fun with my family. It's been a great way to talk about our faith, connect our love for God, see how these people were living examples of faith, learn church history, and honestly real bonding one on one time with my girls while making memories and new family traditions surrounding food - hehe! Obviously some saint feast days have become worldly popular - St. Patrick's Day, St. Valentine's Day, St. Nick, etc, so thanks to Lovely asking, we thought why not explore other feast days?

Yesterday was the feast of St. Brigid of Ireland. She was a real woman leader and did many things to help others grow in faith. She and St. Patrick are the two most famous Irish saints. So, along with our supper of rotini pasta, garlic, sausage, black pepper (all mixed together) and greens (it was a "pantry cleanout" type of dinner hodge podge) Lovely and I made Irish Soda Bread. We could have made actual St. Brigid Bread (lol - that sounds like I actually know that type of bread existed...nope - but it does...neat!), but it had too many things Daddy can't eat in it. We made a VERY plain version of the soda bread, though it would be a GREAT bread for whole grains, etc.

It turned out really delicious if we say so ourselves. And, it makes a TON. Very economical. It was so yummy with peanut butter. Maybe I should start making our own sandwich bread instead of buying it....LOL. The best part was doing it together (when I could relax about the mess) and talk about God, faith, people, this wonderful saint, etc. It was a nice way to spend time together. Lovely is a good baker!

Feast Day fun!!! Talk about your good ole "soul" food!!! *grin*

Tomorrow is the Feast of St. Blaise (Candlemas), and I think we'll have fun making these together!! I'll make sure to report back here!

4th week of Advent and Ultrasound tomorrow!!!

Whew!!!! I'm writing this post, when I should be in bed, but I'm so pumped that so many of our "to do" lists for Christmas just got completed today. I'm not behind anymore, what's left is so doable, and I feel I can be more "Advent-y" in the last 2 days before Christmas.

Not that we haven't done a lot of focus and activities....I just felt distracted by the prep for Christmas day and beyond (and not things that could wait and be done during the Christmas season). It brought me down a lot. I guess I wanted more quiet, more peace and "waiting" - not running!

Lovely and I have loved doing something every day for the Advent Season with the Jesse tree ornaments, Advent Calendar, etc. I just didn't get to more of the feast days and cooking tie-ins as I wanted. But as a family we loved lighting the wreath every night, singing "O Come O Come Emmanuel" together as we lit the candles and eating in the candle light, and reading stories and bible stories to enrich the experience. We've also had lots of fun at a live Nativity, watching Christmas specials, and Lovely running around with her blinking red nose and antlers :) She has quite the imagination. I'll also find her dressed up as Mary with a doll as baby Jesus (or Valiant) and it is too cute!!!!!!!

We just got the tree up with lights (no decorations yet) and today had a mega day with cooking and concocting some edible gifts (I hope???) for dear friends next door, seeing dear family friends off and exchanging some lovely "happies," painting, creative writing, crafting, and other handmade gifting for the family for the big day. We got so much done. Lovely painted and painted for family and friends! Checking things off the list felt so good! It also felt good to enjoy it, not just feel stressed and taken away from the season. Today felt GOOD.

Here are some pictures from our past week. The pictures range from Lovely making cookies with my sister at her house, to some of Lovely's crafting for Christmas gifts, to her making her Jesse Tree ornaments and filling up her tree (countdown to Christmas!!), our Advent Wreath lighting, Advent Adventures, Valiant and Lovely hanging out watching our Nutcracker music box, the girls at the Live Nativity, Goddaughter E with her Godsisters (she's gotten so big), Lovely helping me cook rolls for dinner tonight, our humble tree lol, etc. I'll just post them:





















It's been an incredible week - full of the season, busy, but blessed. I'm glad tomorrow brings some time to reflect and be :) I look forward to living these last 2 days before Christmas with growing joy, and preparation for the reason for the season :)

Oh - before I go to bed (it's soooo late!) I almost forgot - the ultrasound is tomorrow!!! If we can, we will find out the gender (but we're always up for a surprise!), and seeing about how the baby is growing. What a blessing this baby is, no matter what tomorrow brings!

Ok...sleep....sleep.....much love.....