2013 A Year in Review

Last year, I posted a year in review a couple of days early. This year, it's better late than never... 

In January, we celebrated some birthdays and Baptism anniversaries with family and friends.

I also continued to take a lot of photos of our little boy.

February saw our little boy crawling and pulling himself to a stand. It also saw us making crafts and cupcakes.

Naps, painting, and Legos kept us busy too.

In March, the children and I watched as our new pope was elected.  Brendan went skim boarding for the first time. We made Easter cookies.

Best of all, we celebrated Easter. It is hard to believe that this year Lent only begins in March.

The children were happy to take care of Mr. B.'s (my husband's college friend and best man) dog in April while Mr. B. and his family went on vacation. The children really miss our dog. The boys got as much playtime as they could in with their friends who are living in Monterey for the year. We can't wait for our friends to move back up here.

In May, we celebrated a birthday and built a new playset.

The recipient of the playset is still terrified of using the baby swing.

June was a busy month. It began with Kieran receiving his first haircut. Popsicles are invaluable when it comes to giving little boys haircuts.

We went to the beach with some friends.

We also went to the park with friends and said "goodbye" to our assistant pastor.

Birthdays were celebrated with family and friends in July. 

Two of our children participated in our local community center's swim team. While they swam, Bernadette helped out at home meets, and I played outside with our youngest. Kieran also started to walk in July.

In August, our four oldest children went to wonderful Catholic camps. My two youngest and I were happy to visit one of my sisters and her family. This sister was my best friend growing up. We share many memories.

In September, we continued with our studies.

We enjoyed our annual parish picnic.

I had my third or fourth ultrasound.

I finally felt well enough in October to invite our new assistant pastor over for dinner. The children enjoyed playing badminton and checkers with him. Our two oldest boys went hiking with the Knights of the Sacred Heart. 

Brendan carved a Celtic knot pumpkin.

November saw our pastor coming over for dinner and playing Stratego with Patrick. We celebrated birthdays with family and friends again. Somehow, I failed to take any photos on Thanksgiving.

I had a 30-week (one day shy of 31 weeks) ultrasound in December which included this 3D picture of our baby. I can't wait to hold him/her in my arms. 

Theresa received the Sacrament of Confirmation. 

We celebrated Christ's birth by going to Midnight Mass which Brendan and Patrick had the privilege of serving. Our two oldest girls sang in the choir. Our youngest son remained awake until the very end of Mass when he finally drifted off to sleep in my arms. Elizabeth was happy to visit Baby Jesus after Mass with her daddy.

My husband's father and brother visited and our assistant pastor came for dinner which was made by my brother-in-law and Catherine.

We are truly blessed to have wonderful priests, family, and friends.

I hope that everyone's 2014 is filled with

love and joy.

The Lord's Day or CYO's Day

When our children were three and under, we met a good Catholic family whose boys enjoyed playing sports, especially soccer and tennis. The boys' parents, Anne and Paul, made sure they were able to do so, signing them up to play on soccer teams and taking them to one of the local tennis courts to hit the ball with them. Anne would occasionally talk to me about her boys' teams and/or their games. One fall, as we were talking, she told me that she did not know whether or not her boys would be playing soccer in the same league because some of the games were scheduled on Sundays. She told me that she had told the coach and others in charge that her boys would not be able to play on the team if the game days weren't changed. Anne knew that it is not a sin to play sports on Sundays, but she also knew that God and Mass were priorities for her family and she did not want to have sports competing with their faith. I am thankful for her example.


Receiving a Trophy from Coach John (Boys & Girls Club)

When some of our children expressed a desire to play sports, we looked at CYO Athletics. However, when we learned that CYO often schedules its games on  Sundays in our Archdiocese, we had to stop and ask ourselves: "What would we be teaching our children if we were constantly changing when we went to Mass in order to accommodate a game? Would our children possibly learn that sports take priority over going to Mass?" We realized that our children could not participate in CYO sports for one simple reason: We will not juggle our Mass schedule in order to let our children play on CYO teams. Sundays are the Lord's Day, not CYO's Day.

Winning Kick

This fall, Theresa and Brendan played soccer for the first time. On Saturday, their soccer team participated in the playoffs. Their first game went into overtime and Brendan kicked the winning goal.  My husband caught his kick on video and immediately turned the camera off and started to cheer.  As would be expected, Brendan had a huge smile on his face.  We were happy for him and the team.

Evangelizing on the Tennis Court

This afternoon, during my daughters' tennis lessons, one of the children asked my eldest, "How many brothers and sisters do you have?"

My daughter responded, "There are three girls and three boys in my family."

The child said, "I'm glad that I'm not you."

My daughter stated, "If your mom had more children, you wouldn't be glad that you're not me. I want to have twelve children in our family. I want my mom to have three sets of twins."

The tennis instructor chimed in, "That's a lot of children."

My daughter happily responded, "My mom has been heard to say that the more children she has the easier it gets. I think that the larger our family gets, the more fun it is."

Monday Night Baseball ~ Dad Style

A couple of weeks ago, my husband returned from our son's baseball game saying, "I can't go to any more baseball games. I have a headache."

He must have seen my quizzical look and understood that I was thinking, "Why does your headache prevent you from going to future baseball games?"

He answered my thought, "I get too excited. By the end of the game, I was no longer in the bleachers. I was standing by the fence cheering for our team."

Needless to say, he went to our son's last game.

Monday Night Baseball

Boy on third base: "Pleeeease hit the ball for me, Brendan. I really need this run."

Brendan responded by hitting the ball. The boy ran safely home. Brendan made it to first base and eventually made his way to the home plate.

I Missed It, but He Didn't

My little boy played in the first couple of innings of his third baseball game tonight (we had a prior commitment that prevented him from playing in the whole game). My husband took him to the game and our son hit two singles. I wish that I had been there to see it.