Loveliness of VA vacation- part 1

Where to begin?! We started our 2007 mini-vacation by heading out on Thursday morning to VA. Our plan was to go to Mt. Vernon that day but by the time we got going, we realized that we'd have to switch that to Friday to have enough time there.

So here's some quick pictures of our road-warriors, ready to roll!


Our first sight-seeing stop was Arlington National Cemetery. We knew we wouldn't have time to see it all, but our main objective was to visit my husband's father's grave. He died when dh was only a few months old from cancer so this was a very special visit for us. We tried our best to explain to the kids who this was and that Vince's step-dad was in his life from a very young age so that's why he's "Dad" to dh.

Loveliness of VA vacation- part 2

Friday was the big Mt. Vernon day. However, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention our trip to the hotel in Manassas after Arlington. Let’s just say that we saw a lot of territory in N. Va via back roads. Our handy dandy Rand McNally Road Atlas was surely the star of this vacation. But if I had to move to this area, I’d have a GPS device in a heartbeat or I’d never find my way anywhere! We cut through a road called “Burke Lake Road” that rivaled mountain roads we’d been on before. Beautiful views, too.

Mt. Vernon was just beautiful! I had been once before (long ago) but they had recently completed some new exhibit halls and they were much more interactive for the kids than I had expected. The picture of G.W. taking the oath is a wax figure of him and the other two gentlemen, as well as the one with him on a horse. These figures they had recreated of him at different times of his life were outstanding. You really felt like you'd seen him. They were scientifically done by this long process that is too complicated for me to try to explain but you can find out more about them on the History Channel's website. We could have spent a much longer time at Mt. Vernon but the heat was starting to get to us (me!). Oh yes, we did see George's famous false teeth, too! I'll never forget seeing into the bedroom where President Washington died. You could really *feel* the history in this place. We took pictures where-ever we could, but the inside of Mt. Vernon's main house was off-limits to photography.

Sat. night after my wonderful conference day at the Real Learning Conference, we went by the Manassas Battleground site. I wish the visitor's center hadn't closed before we arrived but we did see some interesting landmarks. Stonewall Jackson's statue was impressive, as were all the cannons . Of course, each child wanted to pose with a cannon.

Eternal rest...

Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord. And may perpetual light shine upon her.

Hannah Elizabeth Parente
Born into heaven on June 15, 1998, fullterm.

Rest in Peace, baby Hannah. Our sweet baby would have been 9 years old today.

Our webpage memorial for Hannah,
It was originally done just after she died but I had to re-do it once, losing the lovely Peter Rabbit background.

Mary's First Holy Communion

Dear Mary received her First Holy Communion at the beginning of May. Here are a few pictures a friend took for us.

In case anyone hasn't heard yet...
We're expecting another little Parente in late Dec. 2007!!!!

Woo-hoo!

Please keep us in your prayers, with all other expectant moms!

NC Zoo day

We made a trip to the NC Zoo a few weeks ago. We weather turned out awesome! The kids and I took a million pictures but here's one of all the kids.

Kittens!

We are happy to announce the arrival of 5 little kittens, born to our Calico on March 15, 2007. These will surely be the only photographed kittens ever! They are so small and precious... these aren't the newborn pictures but I'll have to get them on here eventually.

Snow day!

Well, it was only a dusting, but better than nothing!

We had a little bit of snow a few weeks ago...

and here's what the first snow on the house looks like!

Finished fireplace area

Someone asked me the other day how our fireplace finally turned out. Well, here it is! The tile was late in arriving so it was a month or so after we moved in when it was installed. You can't see it in this picture but there is a foot-wide area on the floor with the tile, also. I love it! We want to build in cabinets and bookcases on either side when we can.

Parente dancers

We're well!

Finally! We seem to be coming out of this winter funk and our bout with influenza A. Spring is showing signs of springing and our "Calico" kitty is due with kittens in the very near future. Anyone know how to be a cat doula or midwife?! I'm in the house-decorating mode and we've just made a lovely upholstered headboard for our king-size bed. Pictures coming soon of that project...

Blue ballerina

My new bag!

;-)

Christmas morning at our house 2006

Lucas...

December on the front porch

I've been caught!

This was Emma about to pull off all the clings from the windows. She loves sitting on the stairs here to look out the window.

Pride and Prejudice heroine?

Elizabeth Bennet

Often called Lizzy, Elizabeth is the heroine of Pride and Prejudice. The second eldest of five sisters, she is witty and intelligence, though her prejudice prevents her from recognizing her true love when he appears. However, Mr. Darcy, though he appears proud, wins her love and respect, but not before she believes she's lost him forever.

Which Classic Heroine are You?
Take this silly quiz to see which heroine you are!

Happy New Year, Happy Birthday, and Happy Epiphany!

Well, I just lost a week of my life. What I mean is, a stomach virus has made its rounds through our household. It started New Year's Eve with Emma and ended (we think) with Jacob and I. I'm shocked that dear hubby didn't get it but time will tell if he finally gets it. He's been on nightshift so maybe he didn't get to be around us enough to catch it. :-/

Everyone's blogging their New Year's resolutions but I feel like I do the same ones every year.You know the ones: lose weight and be healthier, be kinder to one another (family), offer more time to God's work, save money and be good stewards, you know... be a saint! It's alot to bite off. But that's what we're called to do, right? Be saints? My pastor always tells the story that his parents wanted to marry not only because they loved one another but because they thought that their beloved would help them get to heaven. They chose one another because they wanted to help one another get to heaven! How many of us can say that? I hope many of us can. I know my husband and children help me to have opportunities to exhibit heroic patience and self-control everyday. (hee-hee!)

I've learned a great deal these past few weeks, much of which was not how I wanted to learn it! Dear hubby had to work throughout Christmas on nightshift (12-hour shifts) and I was a basket-case trying to do everything for everyone. A dear family friend passed away just before Christmas and his funeral was a couple days after Christmas. *We found out our dear pastor is leaving in March!* (More on this later.) Just as we thought we were beginning to see the light of day, this stomach bug started on the eve of the New Year. On my daugher's birthday day I was in the throes of washing up after the 4 yo and 7 yo all day (while trying to make her birthday day as pleasant as possible under the circumstances). What's the saying about human beings make plans and God laughs? Well, I got my priorities put in place, whether I wanted to or not.

Below I will quote an e-mail I sent out to many of you dear friends while I was in the midst of my pity party on Christmas Day:


I want to share my 2X4 to the head kind of revelation from this morning...

Background: Vince is working thru Christmas (electric company nuclear
reactor).

So Christmas Eve was his 4th out of 5 nights he has to work
12-hour shifts. Tension building, I'm getting frustrated taking kids to
Mass, etc. by myself (4 year old boy going bonkers!), trying to make the
perfect Christmas, etc. Christmas Eve was the last straw... it was just a
pure disaster. Jacob's 13 year old hormones and I clashing constantly... I
was in tears half the day... most of us were arguing the whole day long
and Emma was fussy most the day. I got almost nothing done that I had
planned and we ended up having Chinese food after 5 pm Mass. Pathetic...

Last night as I was awake in the wee hours doing all kinds of Christmas
magic by myself I was having a big-time pity party, but I was trying to
shake it off the whole time, trying to push away the depression that
was trying to overtake me. I also was bummed that I didn't get a chance
to finish a Christmas arrangement for Hannah's grave. Like "What kind
of mother doesn't find something for her baby's grave?!" I finally
cried and recovered enough to finish up my chores and get to bed about
2 AM.

So this morning as I brushed my teeth to drink some much-needed coffee,
I felt like I got a real kick in the rear from my guardian angel or the
Holy Spirit or someone up there. I realized that my temporarily absent
husband would be coming home, God-willing, safe and sound. We have a
local homeschool family nearby who lost their dad a couple months ago
as the mom was expecting her 6th child. I think of the soldiers who
have died this year leaving children to spend their first Christmas
without their dad, also. In other words, I got a big dose of humble
pie. We are abundantly blessed, indeed.

God bless all those families
who are missing their loved ones today! :'-)


I post this again here b/c I need to be reminded of my blessings daily when I get in a tizzy about unimportant stuff. I want to wear a scarlet letter of sorts to keep me humble and on my knees in prayer and thanksgiving.

So this weekend feels like my New Year's celebration... Happy Epiphany! What a great opportunity to adore Jesus as the Wise Kings did so long ago.

God bless you all and now I've got to finish my New Year's letters!

Back to our regularly scheduled photos and jottings...

My new favorite toy...Image Chef!

Run-away angel!

Sneak peak of Christmas pictures...

Merry Christmas one and all! I'm not sure if I'll have a chance to update the blog again until after Christmas.

We had a blast taking these live nativity pictures. We got quite a few shots to sort thru... Hannah on the far left is Grace's best friend so she joined us and Jacob thought he was too old to participate. :-/

I long ago concluded that it was just as appropriate and fun to send Christmas greetings during the Christmas season so I'm not going to fret over getting them out after Christmas day. I'm just a rebel...

Christmas Redheads

Winner the cat...

You needn't worry about Winner being comfy!

Advent tree?

Well, since I'm trying to really teach my children about celebrating Advent, one of the new things we did this year was to decorate our *Advent* tree while waiting until Christmas Eve to make it a *Christmas* tree. I purchased 3 strands of purple lights at our Lowe's for $1.99 each and then just used what I already had to make it relevant to Advent festivities. I put the St. Nick ornament on it on the feast of St. Nicholas, the Our Lady of Guadalupe ornament on her feast day, etc. Just a few purple glass ornaments and gold ornaments to fill it up a little bit more. It's been an interesting experiment to help us build excitement for the birth of our Saviour!

Playmobil Advent calendar...

My kids have enjoyed doing this to countdown the days until Christmas as we did last year. This time we added our nun doll I purchased while on vacation so Lucas could sit beside "Sister Julia" on the park bench. God bless my Aunt Julia aka Sister Julia! :-)

We have our first double-yolked egg! The kids were thrilled.