Confirmation

Today we went to the Baltimore Basilica. This is the first Catholic Cathedral built in the United States. It recently underwent a major renovation. It is beautiful, both inside and out.

http://www.baltimorebasilica.org/

We went there because today my oldest was confirmed into the Catholic Faith. Out entire family went, some close friends went. Elizabeth chose one of my dearest friends to be her sponsor. Vickie Miller and I met the first of classes as freshman in a lecture hall at George Mason University. We remained friends through college. Vickie is married to a wonderful man, (who is probably the one person I have remained in contact with since high school) Chris Miller. (Just a little aside, although they met several times at various gatherings I had in college (which Chris doesn’t remember) they hit it off at Richard and my wedding and the rest as they say is history.) They are parents to 6 wonderful boys. We are already trying to arrange some marriages between some of my girls and their sons. 🙂

But today was a day for Elizabeth. The Celebrant for the Confirmation Mass was Archbishop O’Brien.

Liz, Vicki and the Archbishop

Liz and Richard

Our Six Pack – Liz, Amanda, Douglas, Becky, Emma and Patrick

The Entire Family

Whoo to the Hoo! They are TWO!

Hard to believe two years ago we had them:

Abby

Maggie

Marian

And now we have these girls:

Abby

Maggie

Marian

BLANKIES!

Happy 2nd Birthday Girls!

HGP — Week 7 — Guest Room

Week 7. Where has the time gone?

This week we are working in the guest room. If you don’t have one I would use this as a catch up week or if you have a home office do that room.

Since I have 3 rooms for the children, not all got done so I will be completing those rooms this week.

Holiday Prep for the week:

Holiday Prep:
~ Make one batch of Holiday Goodies.
~ Make one extra meal for freezer again labeled HOLIDAY MEAL.
~ Buy two canned food items from menus (get 2 of each item, one to use and one to donate to food drive).
~ Buy 1/8th of TO BUY gifts. Save all receipts, note return policy before buying.
~ Ask for gift boxes
~ Wrap and label packages. If needing to ship, get some shipping boxes now and store packages in them.
~ Work at least 1 hour a day on homemade gifts.

If You Decorate for Halloween:

If you decorate mainly with a fall harvest look, then a few Halloween things can make it for Halloween. After October, replace the Halloween decorations with Thanksgiving things for a minimum of work.

HGP — Week 6 Children’s Rooms

Well this is going up late. Things have been a bit crazy around here for a lot of reasons. But we are back on track now.

This week we are in the children’s room(s). Luckily most of my children are older so I have a lot of help. The rooms have mostly been done since just before school started. I am going through dressers this week changing over to falls and winter clothes since the temperatures are starting to fall.

This week’s Holiday Prep includes:

~ Make one batch of Holiday Goodies.
~ Make one extra meal for freezer again labeled HOLIDAY MEAL.
~ Buy two canned food items from menus (get 2 of each item, one to use and one to donate to food drive).
~ Buy 1/8th of TO BUY gifts. Save all receipts, note return policy before buying.
~ Ask for gift boxes.
~ Wrap and label packages. If needing to ship, get some shipping boxes now and store packages in them.
~ Work at least 1 hour a day on homemade gifts.
~ Check smoke detectors and clean them, change batteries if needed.
~ Make “goody basket” for guest bath, from samples found in abundance in stores right now.