Sledding!

Scott took the boys sledding with the first big snowfall this year (okay, these pictures are a little old) The boys had a blast, even though they didn't last too long in the cold.

Godly Humor

This Advent, we had a tiny Nativity set that was unbreakable for the boys to play with. Mary got lost almost the first day we set it out (no worries, we found her yesterday in a bin of toys in the basement). Our biggest problem was Andrew eating the baby Jesus. Guess it was a little too tiny. Andrew's favorite part of the Nativity scene in our church was the sheep. He wanted to pet them and kept barking at them. I guess they looked a little too much like doggies instead of lambs.
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So, as you Catholics know, the Sunday after Christmas is the feast of the Holy Family. The gospel reading is Jesus getting lost in the temple. Fr. Jerry at St. Agnes gave a great homily about how, in a way, it was a mistake that Mary and Joseph made and how all parents make mistakes. A few minutes after Mass, Scott and I were visiting with some old neighbors and family friends. We hear Fr. Jerry come over the loud speaker and ask if anyone has lost a little boy. Looking back to the vestibule, we see Father carrying a slightly confused Andrew. I had to run back to rescue him, so everyone knew I was the guilty party. Like Father said, I was in good company in the parental mistakes department!
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Please remember to never walk on ice with your hands in your pockets, especially if said pockets have your car keys in them. Scott did this one evening after a dinner out - he slipped on the ice and the tip of his key jammed into the palm of his hand. It took a little work to dislodge the key, and the wound bore a striking resemblance to Christ's stigmata. We contend that Jesus complained far less for far greater wounds than Scott had. And, just in case Scott starts to get a Messiah complex, we can gently remind him that no only can he not walk on water, he can not walk on frozen water either.
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Conversation overheard after the Consecration at Mass last Sunday:
Luke: Daddy, what's that Father's holding?
Scott: That's the body of Christ
Luke: Does it have any dairy in it? (recall his and Patrick's dairy allergy)
Scott: No
Luke: YES! (said excitedly, as if it should be accompanied with a fist pump)
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And finally, we were having lasagna for dinner, and Joe couldn't contain his joy. He ran around the house singing "Lasagna in the Highest" (to the tune of "Hosanna in the Highest")

First Day of School For the Twins

Patrick and Luke started 3-year-old Kindergarten on Monday. They've been excited about this day for months, and it finally arrived.

The whole school has prayer every morning together in the gym. They give the little ones rosaries and prayer cards to hold and play with just in case the time frame surpasses their attention span.

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Their first activity was to trace their own name. Luke loved this activity, of course. It was at this point that he asked me when I was going to leave. Thanks.

Patrick was super excited that morning, too. You can barely see Luke behind the teacher's rear in the right of the picture. From that far distance, the twins waved at each other once they were seated. It was a precious moment for a mom of twins. They love each other. They've always been together (really, almost every waking moment of their lives). They're together for this first big moment, but not sitting next to each other. They just wanted to give their brother some friendly encouragement and love from three feet away.

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So, the jury is still out, but their first days were successful. Joe had music class with them, and apparently Patrick intentionally gave a wrong answer to a question the teacher asked. Joe told him, "that's funny at home, but that's not funny at school." Thanks for teaching him the ropes, big brother!

Christmas, etc

Merry late Christmas to everyone! So sorry that we are so behind in keeping up the blog. I have all kinds of freetime this time of the year... You'll notice this same delay last year at this time, too. Sorry!!

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We started the Christmas celebration at Suzanne's parents house. The living room floor was literally covered with presents and kids so that not a scrap of carpet could be seen. It was a crazy few minutes of gift-opening excitement for the kiddos, as you can imagine. The cousins all got a mini air hockey table to share, but it turned out to be Andrew's personal favorite. Unless you wanted to play him, you didn't get to play!

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Miss Molly, Shannon's youngest, got her own pink potty chair. She was so excited, she gave it it's first deposit right there in the middle of the living room and everyone. What a funny scene... and a picture I'm sure she will see again in her wedding slide show - if that's still the thing in a few years.

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Christmas Eve Mass was really special since it was being said for our family's intentions. At St. Agnes, they try to let the ones who requested the Mass intention be the ones who take up the gifts. So, Grandma and Papa carried the important stuff, and the older grandkids followed them up to give the gifts to Father. Patrick didn't make it, since he fell asleep in the pew. Sitting up. I was wondering why they all seemed so good...
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That night, we braved sleet and snow to head back to Scott's parents. Santa had arrived bright and early, which was great since Joe was up at 5am. Luckily, crafty grandparents kept the boys busy and entertained upstairs for two hours until the rest of the house (aka Andrew) was awake. Now that's talent.

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Patrick's little doggie, Jim, got quite a new wardrobe from Santa.

We wanted to give our boys the opportunity to experience the joy of giving, too, so we took each of them individually to the dollar store to pick out gifts for each other. Usually, they chose gifts they would really like themselves, eg, Luke bought Patrick a paint set. When Luke gave the wrapped gift to his twin, he exclaimed, "Pat, I hope you like it!" When Patrick opened it, he just said, "I don't like it." Poor Luke was dejected! We had an impromptu discussion on being gracious and polite.

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Joe and Patrick also picked out gifts for Grammie. Joe was walking by the "home goods" aisle and saw a package with a picture of a woman with her head in a microfiber head wrap. Not too flattering, but Joe instantly though of Grammie, so we got it. God bless Grammie for being so excited to receive that gift! Patrick bought her a lovely ceramic cross "for her new kitchen" he said (it has recently been renovated) It was awfully thoughtful of him. As for Granddad, one of the boys thought the $1 bag of off-brand Chex mix would be great for him, and another got him gummy worms. Lucky Granddad!

A random picture of Andrew 'playing' MarioKart Wii with Joseph. He loves imitating his brothers! Andrew is sitting on my lap now, looking at the picture and saying, "Baby, Joe Joe. Baby, Joe Joe"