Easter 2012

Family Picture on Easter

I've been so busy I haven't had two seconds to check in and post.  I've been prepping for Boogie's birthday party. This is the first year that we have decided to do a separate "friend" party and I've been working hard on that. I will write more about that on another post and sharing my crafty side.

First, I have to write and share pictures from Easter.  He is Risen!  Alleluia, Alleluia!

As I've posted before, the kids have become very involved in Lent this year. They willingly gave up television and video games all through Lent and meat on Fridays.  I have to say we haven't missed television. Even though we can go back to watching it, the kids haven't asked for it, and I'm finding that I am getting more done because I'm not turning it on to "relax." It's been good.

My kids with my parents

Easter was a little chillier than I would have liked, but still sunny and bright.  We picked up my Filipino relatives and headed to Church a little earlier than usual so that we could be sure to sit together. With it being Easter, it was suggested we arrive earlier because of the expected number of people attending Church.  However, I found that it did not seem as crowded. Hubby reminded me that we were sitting this year and not standing in the back...maybe that was it. And when you fill an entire pew with just your family, you get a little more wiggle room.  My parents joined us this year and it was really, really nice to attend Church with them. We attend different churches and don't often get to sit through a service with them. I liked that they were there and the kids loved being with Lolo and Lola. I hope we can make this an annual occurrence.

We finished church with an Easter egg "hunt" for the kids.  The Knights of Columbus put this on every year and they continue to do a fantastic job organizing it.  This year Boogs actually came home with candy. Last year an older kid snookered him and traded Boogie pencils for his candy. No candy for him last year...not that it was an entirely bad thing...

Picture with my Filipino relatives

I love Easter. I love the promises it holds and the promises of new life. I love the hope it brings and how it strengthens my faith. It is a wonderful time and I am blessed to be able to spend it with my immediate and extended family.


To each of you I wish you blessings of new hope, eternal life, and new beginnings. Happy Easter!






1 Peter 1:3
Praise be to the God and Father our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead... (NIV)

Happy New Year!

Gah, where has the time gone?!? I cannot believe that it is 2012 and that it has been almost a month since my last post!  I have so much to share and not enough time to post.  Ah, so be it. I will share what I can in the few minutes I have while the baby is napping and before I pickup the kindergartner.

Um, where to begin?  First off, Happy New Year!  It is officially 2012.  I try to take it slow every Advent to really appreciate and prepare for the celebration for our Savior's birth.  However, with a SAHM's demanding schedule, it is not always possible.  But we do what we can. One of the things that I really, really enjoy doing during Advent is putting up our Nativity sets. It is a nice reminder for us what we are really celebrating: the birth of our Lord and Savior.  I love that we keep our sets up through Ephiphany.  During Advent we also light a candle on our Advent wreath, adding a new candle each week until Christmas.  I love hearing the kids respond to our "Jesus is the Light of the World"as we light the candle with "Come Lord Jesus!"

I felt pretty good about how far ahead I was on my Christmas shopping. I wasn't stressed by that, but my to do kept getting longer and longer. I was missing my much needed workouts at the gym, running errands well into the evening, and feeling pretty exhausted.  My husband kept telling me to slow down, but I felt that I couldn't, which is so incredibly stupid.  There is no reason that I couldn't have taken the time to slow down, but once I'm in that mode, it's really hard for me to think rationally about what I think needs to be done. If I could articulate how I'll reorganize my thoughts and priorities, then that would be my New Year's Resolution.  But I can't so it will drive me crazy until then.

Christmas Eve finally made me feel that it was Christmas. Every year we go to my SIL's house where we are joined by all of my husband's siblings & their families,  his parents, and a few extended relatives. I love spending time with all of them and just sitting and enjoying good conversations and good food.  I love seeing the nieces and nephews open their gifts to one another.  I love what has become our annual tradition of a Yankee Gift exchange and laughing so hard tears stream down my face over some of the ridiculous gifts we throw into the mix.  In the past my immediate family has gone to the family Mass at my husband's childhood church where we listen to many of our nieces and nephews sing in the children's choir led by Hubby's eldest sister.  This year we celebrated Mass at our church with my Filipino relatives. A different experience, but one that I enjoyed.

As I do every year I watched A Christmas Story while Hubby and I wrapped gifts. We spent time together talking about the day and preparing for Christmas morning.  Christmas morning was pretty awesome and the expressions on my kids' faces was priceless. I have to hand it to my big kids, they wanted for an hour very patiently as they waited for their baby brother to wake up so that they could open presents together.

I'll stop here for now to post some pictures from Christmas. I'll add more because I still have to post about Mr. Bananas turning 10 months, kidisms from my silly kids, new year's resolutions, and pictures from our week together.

As we enter this new year I pray for God's blessings to cover you.  May this be a year of health, prosperity, and happiness.  May you be surprised by what you are able to do. May you grant kindness to others. May you always feel loved. Peace be with you as begin a new year!

Mr. Bananas and Buggy visiting with Santa

Boogie visiting with Santa

All the girl cousins

That is the look of pure joy from Boogs when he received a "How to Train your Dragon" playset from his cousin R.

July 4th

Every year we go to my SIL's home and have a BBQ on the 4th of July.  The whole family goes, the kids play outside, the adults hang out and talk outside, there's good food, and fireworks afterwards.  It's a really nice time for all of us.

This year my husband really wanted to see the parade that they do in his old hometown.  The one that they do by our current home is sweet, but small and short.  The one that they do in his old hometown is about 2 hours long, has many floats, candy, state officials, and for the parade that is held earlier in the afternoon they have 5 fighter jets that fly overhead to commence the festivities. It's so popular that people started putting their chairs out to save their spots on the main road about a month earlier.  The whole thing is pretty awesome.

The kids are at an age that we could sit and enjoy a long parade. This year we really lucked out and had good weather, hot, but not humid.  We also met up with one of Hubby's sisters and her family and we were able to enjoy the parade with four of our nieces.  The kids had so much fun being with their cousins, listening to the marching bands, and waving to everyone. Good time had by all.

My favorite part of the day is going to Hubby's other sister's home for the festivities. I think it's one of the easier celebrations to host (I hope she thinks so!). While she still has to prepare her home for the onslaught of our clan (it's 29 of us for a "immediate" family gathering) we spend the majority of our time outside, the kids entertain one another, and there is none of that "schedule" that goes on when you host a birthday party. So we don't have to worry about gifts and cake. Everything is pot luck and buffet style.

Being from a small family of four, it's taken me some time to learn to get used to a large family. But over the years (I've been going to family gatherings for the last 13 years) I'm finally used to it. I love that my kids have a ready made play group whenever we go somewhere. All of the kids are good to each other and play with each other pretty nicely.  We still have squabbles that happen with any family, but nothing long lasting and overall they do well.  I like that I get along with my in-laws and all of my BILs and SILs.

Hubby and I spoke about holidays in general and we really like that we spend our holidays with our big clan. My only regret is that my parents are so overwhelmed with the sheer size of the gathering and do not join us for all of our festivities.  But holidays were never a big deal when I was a kid so maybe it's not as bad for them as I think it is. Don't get me wrong, we always celebrated the holidays, but it's a lot different when you do it as a family of four versus a family of 29.  I think my holidays would be complete if my folks were part of the festivities, but overall I enjoy them and I hope that my kids do, too :)