David's Birthday

Poor David - with a birthday just 4 days before Christmas, sometimes it gets overlooked when there are already celebrations and gatherings planned, as well as traveling taking place. This happened this year (at least in so far as we had started the tradition of getting a bike for the kids on their 5th birthday, and David is still bike-less!). However, he was at least showered with sweets and presents by both of his grandparents. At Cross Christmas he once again had a breakfast procession of sweet breads with song and candles. Then, when we arrived at Joe's parents' place, there was a huge chocolate cake and presents waiting! 

A quick cute story about the presents: David got 5 one dollar bills in a card. He is so used to his parents telling him to share with his siblings, that he instinctively handed 1 bill out to each of his siblings (even Romeo)! We had to tell him that, although that was a very sweet thought, he did not have any obligation to share his monetary presents. He just shrugged, and said he wanted to anyway. What a great kid! (Thus, the 2 bills visible on the table in the picture.)

So, over two months late - Happy 5th Birthday to Dave, our wonderful and brave big boy!

Love, Us.

Cross Christmas 2014

Here are the best pics from Cross Christmas this past December.

Enjoy!

The amazing Superhero Squad, thanks to Aunt Nancy's creativity!

The official family pics:

To finish for today, a video of the new CC tradition - the Dance!

Love, Us.

The Kiddos' Lent: Beans for Jesus

We are trying something new this year at the Librandi castle. Along with our usual daily Lenten prayer and calendar (and individual sacrifices), the kids are earning "Beans for Jesus"! Basically, we have a large cup of dry beans that represent our sins. Every time the kids cheerfully do something good, no matter how small, they can put a bean in the glass vase as a symbol of their conversion. We even have special Patrick "beans" so he can feel like he is participating without getting the bean "count" off. The trick to this program, however, is that the kids can lose beans just as easily as they can earn them. Every whine, every tantrum, every disobedience, means a bean is removed from the vase and placed back in the cup. 

We are now one week into this new Lenten practice, and I must say that I do like it much better than the toothpick crown of thorns. It both encourages small acts of kindness and discourages bad behavior. We'll see if it keeps up for the next few weeks! 

As you can see, the kids are off to a great start, having earned many more beans then they have lost. 

Oh... and I almost forgot the most important part! On Easter morning, all of those little acts of love, which in real life are made so much more beautiful and effective through the grace of God, become JELLY BEANS! How fun is that!?

Love, Us.

Daddy Got His Rocker!

Joe hasn't known what to do with himself these past few weeks - there has been neither rocker nor glider in our house! If there ever was a man who appreciates a good rocker, Joe is that man. So, acquiring a rocker was first on our to-do list at our new place. After much searching, we found him a rocker to last for years to come (a Troutman - made here in NC!). To document the purchase, here is the first baby rocked to sleep on daddy's throne.

Love, Us.

Guess Who Was Hungering for Rice Cereal...!

Yum!

Love, Us.

Visits to Godparents/children and Good Friends

We have been blessed to always be able to squeeze in visits to our Godchildren and our kids' Godparents while we are up north. That also held true on this recent trip. One on the way to Christmas Camp, and one on the way back to my parents' place. Both were wonderful times to catch up and grab a few hugs to last us until next time.

First, the visit to Patrick's Godparents and our big guy, Michael.

I'm glad we got to meet Michael's little brother, Joe. He has been central in our family prayer recently, and we are so glad he is doing well!

As usual, we lined the kids up on a couch for a group pic!

And - another new tradition - finishing off the evening with a family dance session!

Then - a visit to David's Godparents, and the second ginger man in our lives - Benedict!

All of the kiddos. (Now there is another little one on the way for those guys! Yay!)

Our last traveling visit was to see some good friends from college. 

This time the couch line-up was simply snapping a shot while they watched a movie - thus, the zoned-out expressions.

Since Sarah didn't bring her little guy, I was lucky to snap an awesome shot of her with Romeo to document our visit!

We even had a visit "in-home" from Father Samson!

Lastly, since we are on the topic of Godchildren, these two cuties could definitely not be forgotten - even though they didn't require an extra trip to see!

It was wonderful to see all of these great people! 

Hopefully it won't be too long until we line all those kiddos up on couches again!

Love, Us.

My Last TX Pic: Wonderful Ladies

For today, I find it fitting that my last picture taken in TX is this one from my going away dinner with CWOC. 

I miss these gals (plus those who couldn't make it that evening) - they were my constant support group and are wonderful friends!

Love, Me.

Ice Day!

First, we hope and pray that all of you have a good Ash Wednesday today. 

May your Lenten resolutions give your lives a needed renewal.

Yesterday we woke to find what we thought was a layer of snow on the ground. We were so excited! However, when we bundled the kids up to go enjoy it, we realized that it was not snow, but a thick layer of ICE on EVERYTHING! Post was completely shut down, as well as the surrounding schools and businesses, so it was a day full of kids all over the place tackling the icy hills and streets. Kids were literally ice skating down the middle of the street! The super lucky kids on the street had sleds from a previous home where snow was prevalent. Our kids, however, still had a great time just sliding down on broken-down moving boxes! Fortunately, the ice slowly melted off of the roads yesterday, so we will be able to get to Mass today. It was super fun while it lasted, though! Mom even got to slide down the local hill!

These pictures remind me of a photo I took after a MN ice storm many years ago!

David was his normal billy goat self. 

He zipped up the icy hills that took most kids several minutes to slowly crawl up.

Yup - that is ALL ICE!

Love, Us.

Our December Visit to the Little Monastery

It is amazing that these pictures are already two months old! It has been quite a whirlwind trip to our new place, and I apologize for not getting on the blog for the entire time. However, mixed in with a current picture or two here and there, I will slowly share all of our fun endeavors that we had over the past months. 

First of all, here are the pictures from our quick visit to the Little Monastery of the Lamb in KC. We were able to stay overnight there and share some wonderful chapel and meal times during our stay. We also got to meet a new friend of theirs, Puma. He cooked us a great meal, after which the boys had a blast with little brother Mario. Since KC is no longer on our route home, we were very happy that it worked out for us to have this extended time with the Community while we could. 

Love, Us.

Happy Valentine's From NC!

Based on his current food consumption, this cupid is destined to resemble the fridge-like qualities of his namesake! Patchy is going to be a BIG BOY!
But, for now, he is simply a chubby-bellied cupid wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day!

Love, Us.

Family Pic in the New Place

To restart my daily blogging, here is our most recent family pic in the new house. 

All is going very well, and blessings abound in our new quarters!

Love, Us.

Yes... We Are Alive and Well!

Hello! I only have a moment left on this computer in the library's internet cafe, so I thought I'd let you all know that we are alive! Our Christmas with family was wonderful! Our trip completely across the US one and a half times went as well as could be with four kiddos in toe. Joe is jumping out of flying objects. Our house is 50% still in boxes. On top of all that, the cable needs to be redug at our new place, so we are without internet (and we have dumb phones!) until at least a week from now. So, the best that I can do for you now is this quick message to let you know not to send the authorities out looking for us. We are well and will soon be "seen" here again! We love you all!

Love, Us.