Brendan's Idea of a Good Time...

So this is what Brendan has been doing with his Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
Actually, this is only part of it.
He has been taking Karate for a few months. I am very proud of him.
He has learned some kicks, blocks and punches, and a very complicated fight routine.
He has a great capacity for learning the different moves and putting them together.

He is going to change from this discipline to Tae Kwon Do in the spring.

A wonderful Thanksgiving!!

What a wonderful time we had over the holiday weekend. I know I am late in posting, but I have a lot to catch up on!
A few pictures and then I'll wrap this one up.

Thanksgiving this year was quite an event as Laura hosted our feast! She really pulled out all the stops, from tasty appetizers to a tremendous Turkey! Laura and Andrew invited a family that they know to join us for dinner and we really enjoyed getting to know them. It was so much fun being together and making many memories. Johnny, Nina and Lilly came up Friday and completed the family. We had a nice dinner with them and then visited for awhile after, and took lots of pictures.

Saturday was quite a day! Laura decided to revisit an old tradition that we used to have in Port Angeles, The Cookie Bake. Lucy dressed for the occasion.

Laura, Nina, April, Christi, Laura Bolling and I all pooled our supplies and labor and baked about 13 different kinds of cookies. We have dozens of treats piled in the pantry for the holidays.

We headed home after that and have been sharing and enjoying them ever since.

It was such a special family weekend and I really appreciated the generosity of everyone involved. Laura for taking on such a huge project. Andrew, for being such a gracious host and so willing to help out. Nina and Johnny for making the drive up. April and Tim and Christian, for joining us for the Cookie bake after a long drive. And all of the wonderful people we met!
God Bless you all.

The Christmas Express

Another Good Shepherd Christmas Bazaar has come and gone. It sure seemed like a huge success.
This year it was called the "Christmas Express". Many, many hands were very busy for months ahead of this event. We had been thinking about it since August. I had told the coordinator that our homeschool group would run the craft room again. John was at the Scouts booth. He was helping the scouts encourage people to send a card to an injured service person. He did a great job.
Tim and the other Knights did the set-up and take-down.John, Brendan and Paul were a big help too!
The bazaar consists of booths with food, crafts, handmade items, a room with vendors, and a white elephant, christened the "pink reindeer". Santa was there and the kids had our room to do crafts in. There is also a wonderful spagetti dinner both nights in which the ladies from two of our parish churches compete to see who makes the best meatballs!
Nina and Lilly were there for much of Saturday. I got to get a picture of Lilly with Santa.
Later on in the day, St Nicholas made an appearance. He tried to keep me from taking his picture, but he couldn't because this particular St Nick is the very same person that asked me to dress up in period clothing and sell stuff in Port Deposit. What goes around comes around.
I think the best part of the whole day was when Father told us that after we finished cleaning up, he would say Mass for all those who had worked. It was a very special end to the event and I felt so much a part of everything. We came home and got everyone to bed, late but happy!

Today was another nice day. We got a slow start and then I took Brendan and Paul to Walmart so that I could do the Thanksgiving shopping. Then we came home and Tim and I started painting the hallway to the upstairs. We have a ways to go because I have to pick out a color that will look good on the bottom part of the wall. We also have to replace the door on the closet.
but it will be nice when it is all done. I want to start hanging the family pictures up the stairway.

Tomorrow we have an Orthodontist appointment, and Art. We are not going to have a regular scout meeting, but will do something at home. It will be a quiet week until we go up to Frostburg on Wednesday night.

And now... John

I recorded John the other day playing one of his songs.
He will be doing this one at the recital.

Welcome to Christian!

Well, Christian Ryan is now a little Catholic boy!
He had a very nice Baptism today. Mmmm...He smells like Chrism oil. I told April not to bathe him! He was a very good boy and practically slept through the whole thing. He didn't sleep through his party though. Lucy wouldn't let him. She was so happy to see him she was positively squeaking.

Before the Ceremony, John and I met Laura, Andrew, Lucy, Suzy, Nina and Lilly for lunch at Applebee's. The little girls were so entertaining. Lilly is really getting grown up and I got a real smile! Lucy just wanted to eat everything, including Lilly!

It was a very nice day!

Piano Lessons!

Here is Brendan at his lesson.
I had the camera and thought I'd get a bit of his playing.

Feel Better Soon Grandpa!

The boys have a message for Grandpa: Hope that you are logging again in a week or two!

Brendan's New Bike

Last weekend we all decided to go bike riding. Brendan decided he wanted to go too, but when we got his bike out we realized that not only was it too small, which we knew, but that the air would no longer stay in the tires. Tim said that it was time to take Brendan to get a new one.
So they headed out to Walmart and came home with this nice, new bike!
It should fit Brendan just fine for quite some time.
We took it out and he rode it for the first time and did very well. He is a natural!
Now if we can just get Paul off those training wheels...

Happy All Saints Day!

It is All Saints Day!! What a wonderful day!
I wish we could all go to Mass and to the party tomorrow. I will go to Mass tonight with Paul. Tim says that he will stay home with the sick boys. We are having an activity night next week to celebrate the day and now I am glad that we had to have it on the 9th! I have to plan a few more games, but it will be a fun evening.
Today we made t-shirts with the boys patron saints on them. I have to figure out what to do for dinner but I want it to be something special. I will also make a dessert of some kind. We need to celebrate our extended family in heaven!