Some of Tony

Sick little girl!

Wonder where I've been?  Dealing with sick kids...and me too.  We are all on the mend!

Tony 7mo. (almost) at OneTrueMedia.com

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Carolyn's Poem

Our Lord gave me a family to teach me to love

As he looks down on me from above.

Sending me troubles all through the day

Giving me the grace to stay on the right way.

He gave me two mothers one up high

To watch and guard from in the sky.

The other was placed here on earth,

Watching and teaching me since my birth.

Being a second Father to me;

He, who was killed upon a tree.

A Guardian Angel to me does He send,

Waiting for me to join Him in the end.

A roof above my head and food to eat,

A father to guard, and a sun to heat.

These are all I ask for every day,

But many times as much to me does He pay.

I thank Him for everything He has given to me,

Especially the grace of Faith that I am able to see.

Our Art project for Our Lady/ for St. Valentine's day

 Taken from an idea from a friend:

We wrote each title of Our Lady from the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Valentine's and gave them to her today. The little girls loved this art project and then arranging her titles...

Saint Valentine-the poem

This poem was written by Katelyn 11, Carolyn 10, and Jaclyn 8 in 2007.  I like to pull it out each year.

Saint Valentine lived in Rome a long time ago,
When Christians were hated and considered a foe.

Emperor Claudius was like a great king,
Yet being an unbeliever, he was very mean.

He made a great army with strong men he'd pay
But they wanted to be with their families to stay.

The priest Valentine, couples would often seek,
To have thier weddings blessed they would have to sneak.

Whispering and candle lit until the soldiers came,
The caring Valentine in prison grew in fame.

Many visitors saw him and came to say,
Thank you for our wedding day.

The jailer's daughter, who was blind,
Came to visit Valentine.

He taught her of kindness and love,
And Jesus listening from above.

She learned to be a  Christian,
For God she would fight.
As a reward for her faith,
God gave her sight.

The soldiers took him to die a martyr's death,
But something behind he had for others left.

A note to everyone, for all time;
With love, signed, your Valentine.

Yum! Yum!

Katelyn made a cheese cake, just by following a recipe and it was fabulous!  So cool, very proud of her, looks like we might have a hobby!

Meet St. Valentine!

St. Valentine's Story

Let me introduce myself. My name is Valentine. I lived in Rome during the third century. That was long, long ago! At that time, Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius. I didn't like Emperor Claudius, and I wasn't the only one! A lot of people shared my feelings.

Claudius wanted to have a big army. He expected men to volunteer to join. Many men just did not want to fight in wars. They did not want to leave their wives and families. As you might have guessed, not many men signed up. This made Claudius furious. So what happened? He had a crazy idea. He thought that if men were not married, they would not mind joining the army. So Claudius decided not to allow any more marriages. Young people thought his new law was cruel. I thought it was preposterous! I certainly wasn't going to support that law!

Did I mention that I was a priest? One of my favourite activities was to marry couples. Even after Emperor Claudius passed his law, I kept on performing marriage ceremonies -- secretly, of course. It was really quite exciting. Imagine a small candlelit room with only the bride and groom and myself. We would whisper the words of the ceremony, listening all the while for the steps of soldiers.

One night, we did hear footsteps. It was scary! Thank goodness the couple I was marrying escaped in time. I was caught. (Not quite as light on my feet as I used to be, I guess.) I was thrown in jail and told that my punishment was death.



I tried to stay cheerful. And do you know what? Wonderful things happened. Many young people came to the jail to visit me. They threw flowers and notes up to my window. They wanted me to know that they, too, believed in love.



One of these young people was the daughter of the prison guard. Her father allowed her to visit me in the cell. Sometimes we would sit and talk for hours. She helped me to keep my spirits up. She agreed that I did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor and going ahead with the secret marriages. On the day I was to die, I left my friend a little note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. I signed it, "Love from your Valentine."



I believe that note started the custom of exchanging love messages on Valentine's Day. It was written on the day I died, February 14, 269 A.D. Now, every year on this day, people remember. But most importantly, they think about love and friendship. And when they think of Emperor Claudius, they remember how he tried to stand in the way of love, and they laugh -- because they know that love can't be beaten!

Happy Birthday Madelyn

Ah, sweetie is 7!  She had a fun day, cute little party, we played bingo and played with her new toys.  She had a crown and was princess for the day!  I made this cake for her, it was a surprise, and she was thrilled!

Madelyn's 7th birthday at OneTrueMedia.com

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

NASA Image

NASA Image of the Blizzare of 2011

Prayer for the Feast of the Purification of the BVM

Prayer to Mary on the Feast of the Purification


by St. Alphonsus de Liguori

O holy Mother of God, and my Mother Mary, thou wast so deeply interested in my salvation as to offer to death the dearest object of thy heart, thy beloved Jesus! Since, then, thou didst so much desire to see me saved, it is right that, after God, I should place all my hopes in thee. O yes, most Blessed Virgin, I do indeed entirely confide in thee. Ah, by the merit of the great sacrifice which thou didst offer this day to God, the sacrifice of the life of thy Son, entreat Him to have pity on my poor soul, for which this Immaculate Lamb did not refuse to die on the cross. I could desire, O my Queen, to offer my poor heart to God on this day, in imitation of Thee; but I fear that, seeing it so sordid and loathsome, He may refuse it. But if thou offerest it to Him, He will not reject it. He is always pleased with and accepts the offerings presented to Him by your most pure hands. To thee, then, O Mary, do I this day present myself, miserable as I am; to thee do I give myself without reserve. Do thou offer me as thy servant, together with Jesus to the Eternal Father; and beseech Him, by the merits of thy Son and for thy sake, to accept me and take me as His own. Ah, my sweetest Mother, for the love of thy sacrificed Son, help me always and at all times, and abandon me not. Never permit me to lose by my sins this most amiable Redeemer, Whom on this day thou didst offer with so bitter grief to the cruel death of the cross. Remind him that I am thy servant, that thou willest my salvation, and He will certainly graciously hear thee. Amen

Snow Days!

Well February is coming in with a vengence!  Looks like we may have 1-3 snowdays this week.  Makes us here happy--stay home with the Mama!  hehe

John Bosco Day Jan 31st

This is a special day to the kids in the upper classroom as he was chosen thier patron long before we came to St. Joseph's.  Today the kids watched a movie on him, they giggled because they had to read subtitles, the movie was in Italian.  One thing I would like my children to always remember and never forget is this quote:

Fly from bad companions as from the bite of a poisonous snake. If you keep good companions, I can assure you that you will one day rejoice with the blessed in Heaven; whereas if you keep with those who are bad, you will become bad yourself, and you will be in danger of losing your soul. - Saint John Bosco

Some Fun Pic's

Tony is Six Months Old!

In honor of St. Fransis de Sales (Jan. 29th)

Your Cross - St Francis de Sales

+ + +

The everlasting God has

in His wisdom foreseen

from eternity the cross

that He now presents to you

as a gift from His inmost heart.

This cross He now sends you

He has considered with His all-knowing eyes,

understood with His divine mind,

tested with His wise justice,

warmed with loving arms

and weighed with His own hands

to see that it be not one inch too large

and not one ounce too heavy for you.

He has blessed it with His holy Name,

anointed it with His consolation,

taken one last glance at you

and your courage,

and then sent it to you from heaven,

a special greeting from God to you,

an alms of the all-merciful love of God.

Dark Chocolate!

Steve has declared after reading an article that we no longer need vegetables. hehe.  Here's basically what the article says:

More than 1/2 of U.S. adults prefer chocolate to other flavors and spend $55.00 a year (me more than that I'm sure).

Eating dark chocolate makes people happy because it contins phenylethylamine, the same nurturing hormone triggered by the brain when we fall in love.

Reserchers from Harvard and Boston Univ. School of Medicine reports that people who consistently consumed dark choc. showed a 40% lower risk of myocardial infarction and stroke then those that don't.

7grams of dark choc per day lowers yuor blood pressure and less risk of stroke and heart attack.

Choc. Lovers will be glad to know dark choc. contains more antioxidants per 3.5 ounces than prunes, raisins, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, kale, spinach, Brusses sprouts, alfalfa sprounts, plums, oranges, red grapes, red bell peppers, cherries, onions, corn, or eggplant!!!

That TV!

Well, we have tried a few different schedules with the littles.  Rosie loves Mickey Mouse and Mikey dinosaur train, both educational programming, however our old schedule was after the kids left for school I would let the two little ones each watch a show while I enjoyed my breakfast, computer time and coffee.  We have found that does not work...it causes them to be whiny.  So we changed it, no tv in the morning at all and poof...no whine.  So I now tell the two of them to go play until I'm ready.  Its working out beautifully.  Tony takes a little morning snooze, they play and I have a bit of time to myself (about 45 minutes) then I call them up and we do a bit of exercise together and then we start preschool time (about 30-45 minutes) while Rosie joins in and colors.  She likes to join in with singing the ABC's and counting.  hehe.  So then after our responsibilities at that time I let the little ones have a little show before lunch.  Works out so much better, really have to watch that TV time, because it does seem to draw the kids into a whiny mood, as well as a lazy mood.  Winter time is tough, this winter has been so cold, but really have to keep that tv time regulated! 

Mikey's preschool

 Well, we can't forget Mikey Richard. hehe.  He is doing well, seems to have really grasped holding that pencil, some of his lines get wavy and joggy but he has improved tons!  Today without having anything to copy and during play time he wrote his name as Miceal.  So close, and without anything to look at.  I bet he'll have it completely down next week. 

He has been doing writing of letters this week, and started writing a few three letter words.  I really love these two workbooks ( I make copies instead of having them write in the book to save for the younger ones)  Its from the program handwriting without tears and thier system is perfect for a preschooler.  I'm very pleased and happy about how well he is doing.