Drumroll, Please!

And the winners are...

A Catholic Woman's Book of Days:

Aimee!

The GIVE Jewlery bracelet:

Amy N.!

The Udder Cover:

Dee!

The Pride & Prejudice dvd:

Momma Holmes!

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are:

Momma Holmes!

The iTunes gift card:

Aimee!

The Mary Saintly Softie:

JOYfilled Family

Weightless: Making Peace With Your Body:

Noreen!

Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home:

Melanie G.!

The cookie cutters:

Noreen

The St. Francis Retablo:

Nancy!

And last, but definitely not least,

the lia sophia necklace:

Lisa S.!

If you are a lucky winner, please email me your address (see my sidebar) so I can send you your prize. Thank you so much for participating in these 12 Days of Giveaways!  I really enjoyed it!

Happy Epiphany!

Mary, Mother Of God

Hail, Holy Mother, who gave birth to the King, who rules heaven and earth for ever. ~Today's Entrance Antiphon

Happy 2012! 

I hope that the new year is off to a great start and that today as we celebrate our Mother, you are feeling refreshed in your role as mother.  

From the Saintly Silver Etsy site

Have you seen Saintly Silver's softies?  These dolls are so cute!  I was actually introduced to the dolls in our pew at our last church when some wonderful people, who would become great friends, sat down next to us.  Their daughter had this same Mary doll.  On the back is the Hail Mary prayer.  And since then, St. Anne, St. Clare, and St. Isabel of Portugal have arrived in our house (via shoes on St. Nicholas day if I remember correctly).  And I have a strong suspicion that St. Victoria may arrive via Easter basket this year.  There are tons of saints to choose from on the site, but if they don't have the particular saint you are looking for, you can work with them to create a new doll.  I happen to know that St. Nicholas had to go through this process with our St. Isabel doll and he told me that it was such a pleasure to do work with Saintly Silver.  Because all of these dolls are custom made, you do need to allow some time for delivery, but Easter is still a few months away.  So, today, in honor of Our Lady, I am giving away one Mary softie!  Just leave a comment between now and Jan. 6th, letting me know what your favorite title/image of Mary is.  We are big fans of Our Lady of Guadalupe in our house.  I'll announce winners for this, and all of the giveaways, on Jan. 8th. 

Prayers for a blessed 2012!

Pop the Popcorn!

Today's giveaway is just for you!  You work hard to take care of your family and this time of year the work, while usually enjoyable, is that much more...well...work.  So today I am giving away my favorite movie so that you can "escape" a little!

Whenever I think about it, I want to kick myself that it took me so long to read Jane Austen.  (I didn't start reading her books until after college.)  I LOVE her work!  The first time I read Pride and Prejudice, I ended up finishing it on a plane (probably the only book I could tell you where I was when I read it) and when I was done I had a very physical reaction.  I just wanted to burst!  It was such a great book!!!  I was also a little disappointed that it was over, which I didn't ever really remember feeling about a book before.  I was always happy to finish books, the story being complete. 

Then came the movie...



...and I've been hooked ever since.  This is my absolute favorite movie.  I watch it when I'm happy or sad, calm or stressed.  I've used the movie as an escape more than once from a bad mommy day.  I've watched it so many times that even my husband has parts memorized!  And now I want to pass it on to you!  Just leave a comment telling me either your favorite movie or your favorite Jane Austen book (I also really love Persuasion) or both between now and Jan. 6th and you'll be entered to win!  Like all of the other giveaways, I'll be "drawing" a random winner and announce all of the winners on Jan. 8th.

1 Bracelet-1 Child-1 Week of Food

Bracelets with purpose.  What could be better than that?

I'm so excited to introduce you to Give Jewelry!

Give Jewelry is a sustainable movement to provide food for children in orphanages throughout Indonesia. The vision is simple: every bracelet purchased directly benefits kids in need. So no matter what type of bracelet you choose: friendship bracelets, charm bracelets, leather bracelets, beaded bracelets, cuff bracelets or any of our other bracelets, you’re really choosing to make a difference.

I first learned about Give Jewelry over at Elizabeth Foss' blog.  I was hooked instantly!  What could be better than helping orphans and wearing cool jewelry at the same time?  I loved the idea so much, I had my girls each pick out a bracelet to give to their godmothers for Christmas.   We decided on the Rock Charm Bracelets, and the girls each picked out a different color.  And I was so happy when I received them in the mail.  They shipped quickly, they were packaged beautifully, and the bracelets were amazing!  And I've already decided to get one for my godmother, when her birthday rolls around.  (I had already bought her Christmas present, another one of my giveaways!)

You want to buy one don't you?  Of course you do!  Friendship Bracelets, charm bracelets, leather bracelets, beaded bracelets, cuff bracelets and more… With every bracelet you purchase, Give Jewelry provides one week of nutritious food (that's 21 meals!) for a child in need.  It's such an easy way to do a good thing for a child in need.  And when you make your purchase, make sure you put "Stina" in the comment box and you will receive a free Survivor Purple Cancer Awareness Bracelet or Pink Breast Cancer Awareness bracelet. This is Give Jewelry's way of saying thank you!

I am going to make another purchase here soon, for myself, with some money I received for Christmas.  I've had my eye on this one.  But, as part of my 12 Days of Giveaways, I'm going to buy a bracelet for a lucky winner, too!  Just leave a comment on this post, between now and Jan. 6th, telling me which bracelet you would like to win.  I'll announce the winner on Jan. 8th!

If you'd like more chances to win, all you have to do is one or more of the following and leave additional comments saying you've done so!

• Subscribe to the Give Jewelry blog: http://www.thegiveteam.com/
• “Like” Give Jewelry on Facebook: www.facebook.com/givejewelry
• Follow Give Jewelry on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GiveJewelryTeam
• Subscribe to Give Jewelry YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/givejewelry
• Post about Give Jewelry on THEIR blog, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube: http://www.give-jewelry.com/

Remember, for each of the above actions, leave a separate comment on this post and you get that many more chances to win!

Merry Christmas!

May the Good News of our Saviour's birth bring peace and joy to you and your loved ones!

On My Mind

Love Them Through Christmas

The stress has been high here for the last few weeks, who am I kidding, the last 6 months!!! I need to stop and refocus on the kiddos. I can't do it all, and even if I could, it wouldn't be worth it, if my family wasn't happy and healthy.

Peace and blessings to you in this last week of preparation!

12 Days of Giveaways!

Plans are in the works for something I am very excited about!!! Make sure you check back starting December 26th to see all of the goodies!

Coming Soon...

I know it has been a while, but life has been busy and kept me from blogging. I do have plans to return with the new year, but we all know how planning goes, right? Until then, I hope you are having a Happy Advent and that everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Epiphany Treat

Isabel took these treats into school today for snack time. I thought they turned out pretty well. I used the original recipe for Rice Krispies Treats, spread it into a rectangular cookie sheet and cut out the crowns using a cutter I found at Hobby Lobby for 99 cents. You could easily decorate the crowns more elaborately with candies and icing. I didn't because the school tries to discourage a lot of sweets and snacks with icing, although I probably could have gotten away with it on a feast day like today. Simple, inexpensive, and yummy!

Happy Epiphany!

Did the Wise Men make it to your stable?

You Know Epiphany is Upon Us...

Did you or your kids happen to watch Disney's new Christmas special this year, Prep and Landing? We've seen it again and again thanks to the dvr. In the show, an elf gets frustrated at one point and says, "Oh, Frostbite." This has caught on in our house and is considered pretty funny. Today, however, as I was fighting with a diaper box, one of the panels ripped and what came out of my mouth?

"Oh, Frankincense!"

Merry Christmas!

May you rejoice in the good news of our Savior's birth!

Wordless Wednesday

Please, take a moment...

...to remember in your thoughts and prayers this Christmas, the brave men and women serving our country. And also remember their families who will be without them. Merry Christmas!

I Just Wanted to Say Thank You...

...to Melissa for writing my post for me. I mean really, it is scary how she took the words out of my mouth about taking down the Christmas cards. Sadly, I didn't get a picture in our rush to take all of the decorations down before my hubby went out of town. There's always next year!

Where Did December Go?

So I realize I haven't written anything of my own here for a couple of weeks. It's been pretty crazy around here and when I start thinking about something to write, I just never put it to paper. And then of course I forget. (BTW, I've "written" some GREAT posts in my head at night as I fall asleep. Too bad I can't download my brain directly to my computer.) So where did December go? Well, there was the big trip to Disney World. Thank you for all of you who were thinking about us and praying for my girls. Everything went well, everyone ate well, and my Texan in-laws even survived the snow storms back here in Boston.

Tom and I at the luau at the Polynesian Resort.

After we got back, we had a quickly thrown together celebration for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It definitely did not turn out how I was planning back in November, but there was good food and good friends and that's what matters, right? It was our first feast celebration and I'm glad we attempted something. (My motto for 2008 is "Baby Steps".)

A few days later, sadly, my grandmother had a stroke. This changed my perspective a bit as I was stressing (shocker) about hosting my first Christmas with my parents coming to visit. Now my dad was off to see my grandmother and we weren't sure what was going to happen for Christmas. Long story short...my grandmother is doing fairly well, has been moved to a rehab center which she is supposed to be leaving mid-Jan and my parents made it to Boston for Christmas. Of course my stress resumed as I was feeling the need to "prove something" during our Christmas celebration but without getting into any gory details, we survived. The girls both managed to be sick, but in decent spirits, and there were no major disasters.

The New Year proved to be pretty calm. We didn't get together with our friends on New Year's Eve because the girls (and Tom by this point) were sick, so we suffered alone as Air Force lost their bowl game...crummy game. New Year's Day we went to Mass and lunch and hit the mall for a couple of things we needed. We came home and Tom and his parents set up our first video conference over the computer. (Tom's parents bought him computer cameras over a year ago so that he could see the girls when he is out of town, and we just got to setting them up.) After a lot of "learning" the girls got to see their Texas family. It was pretty cool.

We finally put the Christmas cards in the mail today and are trying to get the New Year off to a good start while not freezing in our single digit weather. Hopefully, in a few days Alexis will be completely back to good health and maybe I will have survived it all without getting sick (a small miracle, no doubt). I hope you are all having a great start to 2008!