Off to Canada, eh?

All Pete wants to do is wrestle these days!

Things are looking a little sad on the blog here so I thought I'd write a post! Must mean you all have a life or something. ;)

 Summer is slipping away pretty quickly over here, where did it go?!

We had a rather uneventful summer with the exception of last week. Grandma and Grandpa Doll celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary so we drove up to Calgary.
It takes about 14 hours to get there and the kids were GREAT on the way up. What makes traveling with toddler's easier? Plenty of stops, TONS of snacks and Mommy sitting in the back seat entertaining! Toys and books help a lot too - I was so impressed with how well they handled the drive. We were so lucky as to see two HUGE grizzly bears, a moose, two mountain goats and a handful of dear. The bears were incredible, I definitely would not want to get on their bad side!

Cyril loves going home and the kids bring SO much joy to their Grandparents. We tried to make it fun and went to Heritage Park (a little historic village) and a military museum with the kids. The visit was also filled with lots of barbeques, laughs and seeing old friends and distant relatives. And Tim Hortan's! You can't leave Canada without having their coffee at least everyday!

Cyril's parents attend the Ukranian Catholic so there was a Divine Liturgy followed by a blessing for his parents. It was beautiful. Marriage is certainly not easy. It takes a lot of hard work - so I would say 50 years is quite an accomplishment and witness! My children are blessed to have both sets of Grandparent's in it for the long haul. Not a lot of people can say that these days. Cyril and I are blessed to have our parents witness to us the beauty and goodness of marriage as well!

Cyril's oldest brother Ian is a paraplegic. He broke his neck when he was playing rugby in college. He is one of the most amazing men we know. He is in pain every day and offers it all up in union with Christ. Talk about another witness! I complain about my duties and hardships, being with Ian reminds me that I have nothing to complain about. Peter loved lounging on Ian while he showed Peter around the yard. They were looking for dragon flies and other such creatures. The kids love all their aunts, uncles and cousins!

 Peter found his true love just like his Daddy. Hockey! These were Cyril's hockey sticks when he was a boy. Peter LOVED them. He would walk around the house all day saying "shteeek." Gianna sure wasn't talking at 15 months and we are blown away by Peter's vocabulary. Maybe it's normal, but we love it. I love this little boy.

















We are coming up on celebrating our anniversary as well. Four years! It's incredible how fast time flies having babies. Before you know it you'll be getting an invite to our 50th. ;)

The kids love their grandparents!

We hope you all are having a wonderful summer! We can't wait to hear more about your adventures, big and small. God bless you!

The Hottest Day of the Year . . .

Wearing the special tutu Auntie Clare made her!

was when this little girl decided to show up! It was 108 degrees and it broke the record heat for the past 50 years! I keep thinking it's appropriate that this fiery girl was brought into the world with all that heat! Needless to say, I was so thankful to be in the cool hospital room instead of the boiling apartment liked we planned. It was a disappointment for sure - but I am grateful for the fact that we do have hospitals. I think there were about 9 people watching Gianna's birth. Apparently they had never seen an unmedicated birth before! Happy to oblige, happy to oblige. (not!)

I will spare you the details but it was pretty smooth sailing birth. She came out screaming at the top of her lungs but as soon as she heard daddy's voice she calmed down. It was the sweetest moment ever. The nurses were wonderful and laid her right on my chest as she came out. I wouldn't want it any other way. All the pain, hard work, sweat and blood was worth it the moment Gianna was laid on my chest. Only a mother can understand.

After that I swore I would never do it again! hehe. You soon forget and I think it's God's way of carrying on the human race!

Happy Birthday Gianna! We love you through and through!

Now that she is 3, she has decided to wear makeup. Pretty soon she will be ready to go out with the boys!

Coned head and screaming, but so beautiful to me!!

Once Upon a Teddy Bear's Pinic . . .

We will have to wait till Sunday for Gianna's real birthday, but I threw her a Teddy Bear's Picnic yesterday at the park. There were 45 kids there, 45! We were so excited! We feel incredibly blessed to even know 45 kids, let alone have them come celebrate with us. I asked mom for ideas on what to do because she throws a Teddy Bear's Picnic every year with her kindergarteners. She told me what she does and then we improvised. My goal was to keep it cheap, somewhat healthy, and fun!

We sang a few songs, read a few books and played a relay game with all the teddies. We then went fishing with a cardboard fishing hole that I made. I enlisted the help of Gianna's cousins, Mark, Thomas and Paul. They were SO good with the kids and Gianna looooved having them there. To make it simple I had all the moms bring a trail mix item for the trail mix bar. That way everyone could make their own trail mix, whether they wanted sugar or not, or were allergic to peanuts, etc. It met everyone's needs! Then I had the children decorate their own cupcakes. I made the cupcake recipe from my blog, and a cream cheese frosting. SO GOOD!  Definitely the way to go. The kids had fun decorating and it meant less work for me! The whole day before Gianna and I baked and baked, but we didn't have to do much else!

We made the cardboard fishing hole from a hug box that I had and cut out felt fish. We made poles from sticks, string and clothes pins to catch the fish. For fun we attached honey sticks to the fish for a party favor. The kids loved the fishing part!

It ended up being warm enough to swim so we stayed a while so the kids could splash in the water. At the end of the day I had two very tired toddlers and one pooped mama, but it was a blast! We will see how long I have energy to throw birthday parties, but while I still only have two we're in full swing!

Like I mentioned earlier, we feel incredibly blessed to be a part of our community. We have wonderful friends and wouldn't know what to do without them! I feel like it's similar to the community at San Clemente growing up. The children are all very good kids from God fearing families. You don't run across people like that every day! It was very hard for us to "break" into our church community or simply even have friends when we first moved out here - so this is huge for us. The difference that having friends and not having friends is incredible. Without family around (and even with family) we need our friends. We encourage each other in our faith, confide our sorrows, bring meals in times of need and babysit for date nights! I thank Our Lord every day for our wonderful community of friends!

....We must carry Jesus in our hearts to wherever He wants to go, and there are many places to which He may never go unless we take Him to them. None of us knows when the loveliest hour of our life is striking. It may be when we take Christ for the first time to that grey office in the city where we work, to the wretched lodging of that poor man who is an outcast, to the nursery of that pampered child, to that battleship, airfield, or camp...
                             - Caryll Houselander

River Front Beach Fun!

Today we went to the river and had a great time. The kid's loved playing in the water and it was so nice to hang out with just us, we definitely needed some family time! 

I knew this was to be expected but I was struck by the fact that all the women there were wearing bikinis. I did not see one modest swim suit. I understand it's hot, but I don't understand why people choose these types of bathing suits.

Then I got to thinking, is it really that sexy to wear a bikini? Do women wear them because we think we look sexy in them?

Then I got to thinking it's pretty sexy to hide a lot of our body. You know, keep it a secret. I saw way more than I wanted today at the river. I'm starting to understand that I like keeping secrets regarding my body, I like not being known to other men.There is something very attractive about women who keep their secrets. Who keep them guessing. :)

If wearing a bikini and showing so much of our bodies is truly sexy then wouldn't we want that solely for our spouse? Wouldn't we want to say, "My body is only known to my lover, and I am so proud of that!"

We don't have to wear something like this:

But what's so bad about this?

If we are truly striving to live out the Gospel and attain heaven, shouldn't our lives look different?

Shouldn't our lives look radically different?

After we got home from the beach, we enjoyed our favorite chewy almond flour cookies, make sure to check out the new recipe!

"You cannot be half a saint; you must be a whole saint or no saint at all."
-St. Therese of Lisieux

{this moment}

Gianna, Joyce and Addy: Video Edition!

This is a shout out to the little girls in the family! It's been awhile since we have seen videos on our blog. The three granddaughters all have quite the personality. I can't wait till the day they all get to hang out together! For now they will just have to have a virtual party.

First Up: Adeline Felicity our Dancing Queen! 

This was taken quite awhile ago but it's precious.

 

Next Up: Joyce the Giggler. 

Joyce is Daddy's girl for sure. It was so sweet to see the bond that Robert has with her. 

Last but not least: Gianna the Teenage.

This isn't the best video of her talking to Nana and Uncle Thomas, but it's one of them! I think she would talk on the phone all day if I let her. I don't know what to do with this girl!

There are seven Grandbabies: Bobby, Gianna, Joyce, Max, Adeline, Peter and William. Next time we will have to do a video edition of the little men in the family!

"To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others." - Blessed John Paul II

Nana's Washington State Visit

After visiting the Gallaher's in California. Nana came to visit us in Washington! I am so grateful to Elise for having William so Mom can come and visit the West Coasters! Thanks Elise!

We had a BLAST as always. This time I could enjoy it because I wasn't postpartum! The only thing I really wanted to get done was starting my vegetable garden, and that we did! I was amazed at Mom's love and knowledge regarding organic vegetable gardening. She took my garden by the ropes and went to town!

I caught her in the corner. This was all weeds -  knee high before Mom transformed it.

The finished product. I am so happy!!

Mom planted about 20 square feet of veggies and flowers for us. Some plants, mostly seeds. She knows what to plant where to keep bugs away. We planted zucchini, tomatoes, sweet peppers, jalepenos, chard, beets, spinach, calendula, marigolds, sunflowers, a vine peach, leeks and more!

The only sunny place in my yard is filled with seeds, now all I have to do is water and wait. My first real vegetable garden.

The kids loved having Nana as well. Mom changed all the diapers and played and played with them, it was so wonderful. 

We rode a gondula to the top of a hospital where we could see the city of Portland.

It was kindv'e fun being touristy in our own city!

We baked, we sewed, we drank lots of tea and ate tons of good food!

Mom and Gianna making Clare's Coconut Lemon Meltaways. They were good! 

Nana was so good to Gianna, letting her help with everything.

I will admit it, the visit was so wonderful that I cried myself to sleep after she left. I only see Mom about once a year and it's so hard. I can deal with  it after awhile but when I see her again it's too much! Mom is the most wonderful woman I know, so full of wisdom and virtue. She will argue with that but we all know it, she's an incredibly lady!

We love you Mom and miss you dearly!

When it rains . . .

 

It's raining in Washington, can't you tell?

 

it actually is raining!

In fact, it seems like it's always raining!!! 

 

 

This is how we get through these rainy bluey days:

 We show off what Grandma made us!!

Grandma made me a few headbands and I love them! Don't you love the no shower look? Im pretty good at it!

And some dishrags! I think these are beautiful. I LOVE pretty things in the kitchen, makes me actually want to wash the dishes! (not really, I still love when you do them Cyril!)   : P

 

 Not only are they dishrags, they are Kombucha covers. :) Makes my counters so pretty. Can you tell we are reeeeaaaally bored? hehe

They are even beautiful in the sink. :) Admits all those dishes I love.

 

 

Thank you Grandma!

 

(If you want to do something productive with your boredom, check this story out. Pretty cool, eh?)

Now for the kid's boredom: 

This is what you do with a hat, right?

 

No actually, this is what you do with it.

My laid back little lover

Don't forget to check out Gianna's fingernails, they are all the rage these days!

Snapshots of a Birthday Party!

Peter turned one and I still can't believe it. My little boy is not so little anymore! Here are a few pictures of the party we threw for him. If you want to read all about his birth you can click here.

Grandpa and Grandma Doll came all the way from Canada to visit, it was so special to see them!

Three generations of some good looking men!

This is about the best shot I got. He wasn't too sure of all the attention so Daddy held him for most of the birthday song.

Once he discovered what it really was he had no problem eating it!

This is all a little boy really wants to do on his big day.

This was round two of the party, we had an open house which meant friends and food ALL day! It was so fun. This is Hazel his little friend. She was born two months before Peter with the same lovely midwife. :)

MMM, mmmmm, cupcakes! That's all for now folks!

Happy Feast of St. Justin Martyr!

Prayer for today:

Saint Justin Martyr, pray that in our search for the Truth, God will open the gates of light for us the way God did for you and give us the wisdom no human being can give. Amen

Back in the Day . . .

So lately I have been reminiscing. Being around a sibling really helps and when we went to California we all had a blast talking about the good 'ol days. :) Robert and I laughed and laughed about all the ridiculous animals we had.  I swear we could have been considered an animal shelter. You name it we had it! Someday I will scan some of the pictures I have of the animals, but for now I wanted to post some old pictures to share. Enjoy and have a wonderful day! May Our Lady guide you and the Angels protect you. :)

Rhody! He was THE BEST DOG! Look how handsome and young he is here! Oh did I ever love him.

My first Christmas and my best friend in the whole world giving me a kiss!

Lucy Lewis (Schaper) and I!

Checking out Dottie Gallaher. Peter looks a lot like this right now :)

A boy with his boots and silly faces. Some things don't change. :) Clare simply looks like mischief here!

It didn't matter how simple and seemingly "poor" our life was, we were the happiest kids around! Mom and Dad sacrificed and sacrificed for us!

And where did that fourth baby come from? hehe. We love you Joe!

{this moment}

Gotta love cousin love!!! Does it bring back memories or what??!!

William's Baptism according to the Extraordinary Form

The pictures pale in comparison, but at least you will get a taste.

Baptized in the name of the Blessed Trinity

Blessings, exorcisms and prayers, the whole bit!

The candle represents the Light of Christ. We pray we will live up to this vocation as Godparents.

Our Lady will always guide and protect us. (St. Philomena has her back, too!)

The two reds bonded the entire weekend!

A shot of the crazy bunch. Gotta love 'em all!

The most pure and holy soul, our William Joseph!

Nathanial Lewis and Peter became buds :)

Grandpa couldn't handle all the commotion. hehe

That's it for now folks. Now celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of The Lord!    (Have that extra piece of cake!!)

Ascension by Copley