Feast of the Queenship of Mary

Today we invited over a crew of friends to help us celebrate the Feast of the Queenship of Mary. I have been so inspired by Jessica and her friends "Summer with the Saints", but I just had to rip off some of the great ideas!

We made crowns on honor of Mary being our Queen. This little craft went over way better with the girls than with the boys!!
The boys were much more into making manly bracelets with the colored pipe clearners. Go figure.

The kids all made miniature crowns (and necklaces) out of pipe cleaners and crowned Our Lady of the Backyard. It was a pretty wet day, so the Coronation was a quick one!

After a feast of Mac and Cheese, we each had a yummy slice of crown cake.

The kids had a wonderful time playing, eating, and crafting with their friends. They learned about and celebrated this wonderful feast with such a joyful spirit!

Since Annie found it necessary to publicly ridicule my "stroller", figured I'd entertain you all with a photo of it. Yes, it is the size of a small motor vehicle, but it serves us quite well. I actually walked to the park the day the photo was taken, complete with the watermelon keg (thanks, Jill!), and no one laughed at me! Half way there, (it's a whole two blocks) I did take Belle out to carry her and Grace got it. It gets a little tough to maneuver when all three kids are in it (I don't usually carry watermelon kegs with me), as I figure at full capacity it weighs about 130 pounds. Seriously, with that work out, I should be much more trim than I am!

Anyway, as Annie noted, my dear stroller deserves a name . . . any suggestions?

This past Saturday was the annual St. Boniface Pilgrimage. Although we didn't participate in the entire thing -- it isn't very stroller friendly!-- we did meet the group at Reihle Plaza and joined in the final few blocks of the journey. It is amazing to carry Our Eucharistic Lord through the streets of our town. We are so blessed to have a parish that routinely has Eucharistic Processions! This one was particularly wonderful (to me!) because not only did we walk farther than we usually do, but this time we went right in front of our house!! It was really exciting! There is something beautiful about a throng of people, sweaty and tired, walking through town adoring their Savior. It was wonderful!

**I shamelessly ripped this picture off of Elisabeth's facebook! Thanks!!

Feast of the Assumption

Reason I love the Church #246 -- Infinite reasons to celebrate . . . with food!!

Today we celebrate the day Our Blessed Mother was assumed, body and soul, into Heaven. Over the years, Holy Mother Church has found many fun ways to celebrate this Feast. One tradition is the Blessing of the Herbs. This is fitting, since so many are named after Our Lady. We will celebrate with Herbed (rosemary!) Butter on our bread as well as this yummy Assumpta Salad.

Mary Queen of Heavan, Pray for Us!

Michigan adventures

Spanish Suntans

On our little vacation this weekend, we pretty much loafed on the beach most of the time. We soaked up the rays, resulting in some pretty nice tans for my Filipino children and a mighty crispy burn for me. Admiring her tan this morning Grace declared : "I look like I speak Spanish! Oopigdah!"

Doesn't she know that her dad is the director of diversity?? We can't be racist!!!

Birthdays, Weddings, Beaches, and FUN

We've been busy here in the Antonio House. Friday was Christopher's big Sixth birthday. We had a cookout here with family and a few friends.


In keeping with my Ugly Cake tradition, I made a racecar cake (per his request.). I must say, now that I have six years of cake decorating (and eating!) under my belt, you can really see an improvement (but not in my waistline!). They are getting to be somewhat recognizable!


Of course, guns seem to be a required birthday gift for this little guy. He was thrilled to get FOUR (ok, one was a crossbow, but close enough).




On Saturday, we loaded up to van and headed north for my cousins wedding and the our camping trip in Michigan. The wedding was really fun. What can you expect from a big italian family and an open bar?? The kids had a blast dancing with everyone.
Four cute monkeys making their Mama proud!


We had to get PeterXavier a kiddie cocktail so he would stop stealing our drink!



Here is Christopher dancing like a mad man right in the middle of the wedding party!! He's definitely not shy!

After the wedding we headed up to Lake Michigan for three days of camping and hanging out on the beach. We had a GREAT time. More pictures later -- now the sandy laundry is calling me!

Big Boy

Happy Birthday to our Big Boy Christopher, who turns SIX today!! Time sure flies. It seems like yesterday that we were held our tiny little boy and first knew the joy of parenthhood. It's been a super fun six years!!

And a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Daddy!

I'm in Love

Could he be any cuter?? Seriously, if I weren't Catholic, I'd convert just to be affiliated with Pope Benedict.

And he sends text messages!!

Faith and Family

I have been subscribing to Faith and Family magizine for years now and LOOOVE it. I was SUPER excited last week when I got an email inviting me to a sneak preview of their new and improved website Faith and Family Live. It is totally fantastic.

In your excitement and enjoyment try not to forget about your children. And your hubby might need dinner . . . or clothes for work tomorrow . . .

Quote of the Day

Grace: Mommy!! You're making my pants laugh!!

Truth Be Told

I think we are having a little trouble with telling the truth around here. Grace, frustrated with her brothers sleeping in, appraoched me this morning:

Sometimes, to wake up Christopher, Daddy dumps water on his head . . . so can I do that??

Daddy has never been known to do that. I just said no.

Growing too fast

Bell-ee is three months old today! I can't believe how big she is getting -- rolling over, smiling, babbling, and laughing! We have been so excited to have our newest little monkey. It is amazing how you are in awe of everything they are and do, even though you have had other children. It's so fun!

And lest you think she is all photogenic giggles and smiles, let it be known that it took me 29 shots to get this smiley one. Usually, she looks like a (cute!) goober.

Cannibalistic 2 year old.

PeterXavier said his first sentence today:

"Watch out, I'll eat you!"

Fossils. Apparently, their mom is one.

I can hear my kids playing out in the sandbox. The game involves excavating items from a time long ago. I keep hearing them exclaim:

"This is from the 1980's!!"

A taste of the hippie life

We spent the majority of the weekend pretending we were hippies at the Fiddler's Gathering. We listened to fantastic old time music and Andrew learned a bit at the fiddling workshop. We ate too much greasy food, took naps in the grass and saw an old friend propose on stage!!! It was a great, relaxing yet exhausting weekend. The weather was a little schizophrenic, bouncing from torrential downpours to hot sunny skies, but it was worth getting soaked and scorched!

There were four in the bed and the little one said

ROLL OVER.


My sweet little 2 1/2 month old baby is rolling over!! I thought they were supposed to stay snuggly and immoble for at least three good months. I feel jipped!


In other big news, Christopher learned to ride his bike with out training wheels the other night. He is extremely excited about it. We had an impromptu picinic at Prophetstown and decided to crown the night by the removal of training wheels.



Grace sweetly insisted that she too be the center of attention.












And just a little bit of crazy to brighten your day!

Motherly Music

"I finally had to face the facts in a dressing room at TJMaxx . . . "

Am I the last mother on earth to find out about Marie Bellet?? She's awesome! Check out this music video.

Picture Perfect

Here are a few more pictures from Isabella's baptism and the party afterwards.
















My sister Annie and her hubby Martin are Bella's Godparents. I'm not sure why Andrew looks so goofy in this picture, but everyone else looks cute!





Christopher with his crazy gang of boys.



















Pretty girl, loving all the attention!
















I love the way Christopher looks in this picture. He kind of reminds me of my Uncle Johnny. That's a root beer, by the way.










And here is PX trying to make up for the fact that he just bopped his pal Toby.

"Here! Share my Cake, Boby!"

The Newest Little Catholic

Here's our sweet little saint!

I think Bella may have had the best baptism of the children yet! Grace's was certainly entertaining (when is Fr. Vath not entertaining??), but Isabella's was beautiful. We invited the children's friends -- three families, but a total of thirteen children. They all gathered around the Holy Water font and watched intently while Fr. Alex baptized little Bella. It was really sweet to see all of the little children excited to see what was happening.

Then we celebrated with a rousing Catholic cookout -- plenty of beer, wine, and wild children! I love being Catholic, and I am sure Bella does too!

*Hopefully I will have more pictures soon -- my dad and Margaret took more than I did!