These 40 days

Here we are again, Lent is on us. It's a bit early this year; it is suppossed to be the earliest Lent and Easter in over 150 years. A few scattered thoughts.
A lot of people treat Lent like the only thing that we do is to give up something, and to treat it like a New Year's Resolution that we are bound to break. Lent isn't supposed to be like that. We are preparing to celebarte the most wonderful thing ever; the passion, death, and RESURRECTION of Jesus. Just as we prepare for Christmas with four weeks of preparation, we prepare ourselves for Easter. It is a trifecta of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Giving something up is only 1/3 of our process for Lent.
We should focus equally on each of the three aspects to the Lenten journey. Good luck to all. I am still debating on letting you all in on my plans. I'm asking myself if that would be too much of a display or if it would be helpful to you, dear readers. Considering that the readership is probably me, myself, and I; this wouln't be too much of a display...

Babies' First Christmas

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! Leo and Joseph celebrated their first Christmas!!! Yay! Here are a few pics.

Opening some presents yes, they can rip paper :).

What did they get right out of the gate? More jammies!


Joesph, blankie; blankie, Joseph.


Leo getting in a little exercise before Christmas dinner.


This one has a story. I put the bottle of wine for Christmas dinner in the car seat with Leo when we went from the car to Mom and Dad's house. Leo was, um, curious. Chalk it up to starting the little guy out early.


Again, I hope you had a great Christmas season!!!

Crossing the Tiber

I'm probably the millionth one to post on the topic, but in case you didn't know, Tony Blair, ex-PM of Great Britian, converted to the Roman Catholic Church yesterday. While a man's religion is his business, I feel a thrill at knowing that there is one more Catholic in England. While some may criticize Mr. Blair for his politics, I applaud him for converting, and I bid him a joyous welcome to the Catholic faith.

H/T: Whispers, of course!

Getting ready for Christmas...

One of the things that our family does during late Advent is to decorate the grottos outside of our parish. They were built by my great-grandfather, Edward Matthews. They started as a tribute to my late grand-uncle, Martin, who died as a teenager. The grounds of the parish are dotted with outdoor shrines made from stones collected from our county. He started decorating the grottos for the Nativity, Our Lady of Lourdes, and St. Benedict in the 1950s. After he died, my grandmother kept up the tradition, pulling in my father and grandfather. Likewise, my sisters and I were pulled into decorating when we were kids.
Last Saturday, my parents, my sister Sarah, a couple of Matthews/Huntsman cousins, Alie and the twins decorated the grottos with the standard trees, lights, and poinsettias.


Sarah and I putting the lights on one of the trees.



Mom keeping an eye on Joseph.



The Nativity grotto decorated.



St. Benedict, patron of our county.



Family photo. Pics of the grottos lit at night to follow... Happy Advent, everyone. Only a few more days!

End of Dappled Things

Alas poor Fr. Tucker, I knew him well. I didn't know Fr. Jim Tucker, of Dappled Things, well, but I really enjoyed his blog. He just announced that other endeavors are taking up his blogging time and energy. Arriverdici Don Giovanni!

More Pictures...

So I haven't gotten any pictures with Alie yet, but here are a few that I took yesterday with my cell phone camera. Yes, my cell phone camera. I was watching the kids while Alie took a much needed break and did some errands in town. Enjoy!

First, a picture of the boys playing. (Joseph is in the saucer, I am holding Leo up from behind)

Next, Leo getting some saucer time.

Finally, a little bottle time after a big workout!

Six Months of Babies!!!

Ok, so it was over about a half hour ago, but the took their time getting here. Happy half-birthday (yes, that one's for you Heidi and Angela) to Leo and Joseph. Here are a couple of recent photos to tide everyone over.

First pic: Joseph happy that he can grab things. Me not so happy it is my beard!


Second pic: Leo showing that he eats gracefully, like the little gent that he is ;)


Third pic: Daddy, Joseph, Leo, and Zoey (the fuzzy one). Next mission: get Mommy in a picture with both boys. I guess I should take some of the pictures :)