Christmas Memories 2016

As I look back at these pictures from the last Advent and Christmas, I feel joy and sorrow at the same time.  I feel joy remembering the time I got to spent with my family building traditions and memories. But I feel sorrow knowing that these days will not last very long and soon my little ones will all be grown and gone.  I know life works that way and I just have to accept it.  I like the fact that I am able to enjoy this moment to the full knowing that it wont last very long.  I think that's what makes me want to do more with my children and spend all the time I can with them. 

When I think about my children I know these are the moments that will remain with them forever.  I still remember how much I cherish the memories I still hold on to from my childhood Christmas.  Those are the fondest memories of all.  I still have the taste of the plum cake my mom would make at home and the homemade wine.  I recall my brother cutting off branches to make our very own Christmas tree.  The manger was made from scratch. We would built a big crib using wood, twigs and hay.  I wish I could go back in time to just have it one more time.

Now here I am making those great memories for my children.  When they think of home these pictures will come to their mind.  The Christmas cookies and the decorations they put up with their dad, the Christmas cards they made, the ornaments they painted, the lights, the blessing of the Christmas tree, our morning prayers and Jesse tree ornaments, Baby Jesus and the sacrifice manger, the gingerbread house and the gifts.

I could see them both going and looking at the manger set and the small christmas village we had multiple times a day.  So much curiosity around this table.

They would put together this Lego manger set in so many different ways.  Each time I could see their imaginations coming true.  They could sit and do this all day just rearranging the nativity scene :)  I hope Lord will give us many more years to celebrate his birthday in our little home with the little ones we have.

World Youth Day, Poland

Sony got a wonderful opportunity to go for WYD 2016 in Poland.  This is the 4th WYD that he is attending.  He was asked to go to this time mainly to chaperone some teenagers.  He had such an amazing time.  He was gone for 2 and a half weeks.

Myself and the kids were eagerly waiting for his return.  Two and a half weeks seemed very long especially with a 2 months old Mary.  Since it was summer time we were able to go outside and enjoy the weather.  It was like a celebration, the day when Sony returned. I just loved seeing George and Anna's excitement as they welcomed their pappa home.  I then realized how important the father is in a child's life.  Sony plays such a big role in raising them.  The love and security that the father gives is irreplaceable.

These cute little aprons with each of their initials were sent to me by my friend from Australia

My polish kids lol

Pope Francis haha

May Crowning 2016

It is almost time to do this years May Crowning and here I am only sharing last years May Crowning pictures =D  We have a small statue of Mary in our front yard so we decided to make a small crown to crown our dear mother.  We were able to pick flowers from our own garden and make a tiny crown.  

I loved the crown we made.  It looked so beautiful on mother Mary

Feast Day Celebrations of 2016

I only have three children and I find it very difficult to get some time to keep up with my blogging.  There is so much that I have missed updating on here and now I don't even know where to begin.  When I looked through my pictures from last year, one most important thing I did not want to skip posting was our feast day celebrations. I cant cover all of it but I am going to try to share at least a few.  

St Patricks Day 2016

Lets start off with our St. Patrick's day.  For the past two years we have been celebrating this great saints feast.  It is very exciting for children to learn about this saint since a lot of adventure revolves around his life from the pirates capturing him as a young boy to how he became the one to bring Catholic faith to Ireland.

This is the first time we made a saint puppet. 

I love teaching about the trinity using the shamrock.  What a great way for little ones to understand the mystery of 3 persons in 1

And finally we ended by watching our favorite DVD of St Patrick.

Feast of St Faustina 

She is a saint who teaches about the mercy of our Lord.

Mary's Feast day - Nativity of Mary

We wanted to celebrate our little Mary's feast as she is named after our dear mother.  She is the one who is going to celebrate the most feast days since St. Mary has a feast almost every month.

We picked flowers from our own garden for our Lady

Doesnt she look beautiful with all the flowers and candles

She is only 4 months

Feast of St Michael, the archangel

This is the first time we celebrated the feast of St Michael.  We used these small cocktail swords to remember how St Michael always is in battle with the evil.  The brownies were the symbol of evil and the swords represent St. Michael's sword.

Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

I love St. Francis of Assisi.  Sony has gone to Assisi and seen his house and the church he built.  I love the movie Brother Son, Sister Moon.  I used to watch it when I was in middle school and this movie has touched me a lot.  I am so glad I finally got to celebrate his feast with my kids.  We read the book Francis and the wolf.  Kids loved the story.  We had a great time celebrating his feast by making wolf paw cookies.  The cookies were based on the story of how Francis tamed the wolf.

Feast of St Cecilia

We have been listening to the Glory Stories of St. Cecilia for a year.  Now that we really knew who she was, we wanted to celebrate her life.  What a holy and brave young woman she was!!  We made a piano with wafers and kit kats since she is the patron saint of Musicians.  It is said that when she was being beheaded she kept singing songs.