Halloween

This Halloween was rather strange... I didn't trick or treat, and we didn't carve pumpkins. However, I did finish my Elf costume! William, Nicholas, and I all were Lord of the Rings characters!

The pictures were taken on Dad's camera, and they wound up with Grandma (since Dad is staying at Grandma and Papa's house during the week while he's commuting until we move), and she edited them and put them on facebook. Of course, these aren't all the pictures, but let's just call it a teaser, shall we? Someday I would like to do a true photoshoot. :)

Frodo, smoking the Longbottom Leaf of Hobbit fame as he stares, ponderously, into the distance. (Note that the Ring of Power is around his neck!)

< Frodo, in a very epic pose. :)Nicholas wore his Easter outfit from last year (I was the one who pointed out that the vest was quite the Hobbit style!), a cloak made by Mom, and the Ring of Power (from Ben's Lord of the Rings Risk game) around a chain.

Strider, a Ranger from the North

Elendil, king of Gondor and Arnor

Aragorn, son of Arathorn

< Aragorn, prepared to charge into battle. William saved up his money to buy a real (albeit unsharpened) sword- a replica's of Aragorn from when he was still known as the Ranger from the North (in other words, not the sword of Narsil). It is a very nice sword. William wore a "chainmaille" shirt found at Goodwill, a fake leather tunic made by Mom, jeans, Mom's boots, and a homemade cloak. He stole my Evenstar for the costume, and I also made him "The Ring of Barahir" (aka Aragorn's ring).

^The only picture of my cotume you'll get to see for awhile! I made the costume (jewelry included!) entirely by myself. Well, Mom helped me figure out the sewing pattern and she sewed the collar on. But other than that!

Okay, so Ben was just too funny. He sat there with the thing of candy, and would randomly start talking or moving. We got several screams!

Three our four people read the "Mean Ogre" sign. They read it aloud, and as they were finishing, Ben cried indignantly, "I'm not mean!"

The funniest incident was probably with a few teen girls. I didn't get to see this one, but from what he said...

The two girls walked forward and read the signs.

"Should I grab some candy?" (in a tone of surpressed horror)

"I don't know, its probably a person tricking us."

"I dunno, it doesn't look real."

"You get the candy."
"I don't want to."

"Is it real?"

"Let's throw a rock at it and see."

As you can imagine, Ben was rather concerned that they would chuck a rock at his head. Instead, they threw a bag of candy at him and then ran away without getting the bag or the candy from Ben. !!!

Marcus was originally going to be King Theoden (or at least, a king with a sword and all, us Tolkien geeks named him Theoden), but he wouldn't wear the costume. So he was a firefighter instead.

Adelynn was the most darling little pink bunny rabbit EVER!

St. Joesph

Guess who Marcus was for All Saints' Day! Somebody who gets to play with tools- St. Joesph , the carpenter, foster father of Jesus, husband of Mary, etc.

"Mary" and "Joesph"

Here is a link to a thing about St. Joesph.

All Saints' Day Party 2008

For those of you who do not know- All Saint's Day is a feastday on the first of November on which we celebrate and remember the lives of all the saints in Heaven. In particular we remember the canonized saints (people who we know for sure are in Heaven on account of miracles and other things). This year we went to an All Saints' Day party. Everyone dressed up as a saint. We played a guessing game where we guessed what saint people were. Sometimes it is pretty obvious- a boy dressed as a knight is generally either St. Micheal or St. George, but sometimes we have some pretty obscure saints.
Here are (all!) the pictures that I took:

Mary, Queen of Heaven

Adelynn, who has a very special love for the Blessed Mother, chose to be Mary for All Saint's Day. Actually, she chose to be Mary, Queen of Heaven so that she could wear her crown!
I won't post a story about Mary, because everyone should know about her. She is not exactly wearing a crown of twelve stars on her brow like in Revelation (please correct me if my memory is wrong on that point) but I think that with her petticoat dress, Nick's king cape, crown, veil, and rosary, she makes a fairly good Queen of Heaven!

Adelynn said that she was frowning because "Mary is very sad that people don't love Jesus."

St. Thomas Aquinas

I think Ben has an awful fear of cameras- this is the only picture I got of him! This is a last minute costume. You'll notice that he is carrying a book of Charlotte and Emily Bronte's books! I've never read them. Anyway, Ben was St. Thomas Aquinas:

Philosopher, theologian, doctor of the Church (Angelicus Doctor), patron of Catholic universities, colleges, and schools. Born at Rocca Secca in the Kingdom of Naples, 1225 or 1227; died at Fossa Nuova, 7 March, 1274.

St. Thomas is VERY well-known, especially for his book Summa Theologica or something like that. Here is a story about him: St. Thomas Aquinas
For anyone wanted to read alot about him, I suggest the book by G.K. Chesterton. We also have a small chapter book on him for anyone who would like to borrow it!

St. Gaius Francis

Will was a rather obscure Japanese warrior saint named St. Gaius Francis for All Saint's Day. This is a classic case of trying to find a saint to match a costume! There are saints for EVERY kind of person, believe me, including St. Gaius Francis, who was a ninja-like warrior!

Not much is known about him, but this is what I found:

Feastday: Febuary 6
1597

Martyr of Japan. He was a baptized Japanese military man and a Franciscan tertiary. When priests were arrested, Gaius demanded that he also be imprisoned for the faith. He was crucified with his fellow Christians at Nagasaki.

Also known as Caius Francis

Memorial 6 February

Profile Japanese soldier. Convert. Franciscan tertiary. When soldiers came to arrest the friars, he insisted he was a Christian, too. They took him, as well. One of the Martyrs of Nagasaki.

Born Japanese

Died crucified on 5 February 1597 at Nagasaki, Japan

Beatified 14 September 1627 by Pope Urban VIII

Canonized 8 June 1862 by Pope Pius IX

St. Francis Xavier

Nicholas chose to be St. Francis Xavier of the Seven Seas for All Saint's Day. St. Francis is one of his patron saints. I say one because he is named after two saints- Nicholas after St. Nicholas, who the story of Santa Claus grew up around, and Xavier after St. Francis Xavier.

This picture would have been neat if he weren't making that face!

Here is a link to a story of St. Francis. These stories all do a wonderful job of making the saints seem boring! If you want to read more interesting stories of them, we have tons of books on saints!

St. Margaret Clitherow

I dressed as St. Margaret Clitherow for All Saint's Day. She was English, so I got to talk with an English accent the entire time!

This is what is called a pose.

St. Margert Clitherow is usually pictured standing on a door and holding a Bible. We didn't have an extra door handy. :)
This is from the Catholic Encyclopedia:

Martyr, called the "Pearl of York", born about 1556; died 25 March 1586. She was a daughter of Thomas Middleton, Sheriff of York (1564-5), a wax-chandler; married John Clitherow, a wealthy butcher and a chamberlain of the city, in St. Martin's church, Coney St., 8 July, 1571, and lived in the Shambles, a street still unaltered. Converted to the Faith about three years later, she became most fervent, continually risking her life by harbouring and maintaining priests, was frequently imprisoned, sometimes for two years at a time, yet never daunted, and was a model of all virtues. Though her husband belonged to the Established Church, he had a brother a priest, and Margaret provided two chambers, one adjoining her house and a second in another part of the city, where she kept priests hidden and had Mass continually celebrated through the thick of the persecution. Some of her priests were martyred, and Margaret who desired the same grace above all things, used to make secret pilgrimages by night to York Tyburn to pray beneath the gibbet for this intention. Finally arrested on 10 March, 1586, she was committed to the castle. On 14 March, she was arraigned before Judges Clinch and Rhodes and several members of the Council of the North at the York assizes. Her indictment was that she had harboured priests, heard Mass, and the like; but she refused to plead, since the only witnesses against her would be her own little children and servants, whom she could not bear to involve in the guilt of her death. She was therefore condemned to the peine forte et dure, i.e. to be pressed to death. "God be thanked, I am not worthy of so good a death as this", she said. Although she was probably with child, this horrible sentence was carried out on Lady Day, 1586 (Good Friday according to New Style). She had endured an agony of fear the previous night, but was now calm, joyous, and smiling. She walked barefooted to the tolbooth on Ousebridge, for she had sent her hose and shoes to her daughter Anne, in token that she should follow in her steps. She had been tormented by the ministers and even now was urged to confess her crimes. "No, no, Mr. Sheriff, I die for the love of my Lord Jesu", she answered. She was laid on the ground, a sharp stone beneath her back, her hands stretched out in the form of a cross and bound to two posts. Then a door was placed upon her, which was weighted down till she was crushed to death. Her last words during anagony of fifteen minutes, were "Jesu! Jesu! Jesu! have mercy on me!" Her right hand is preserved at St. Mary's Convent, York, but the resting-place of her sacred body is not known. Her sons Henry and William became priests, and her daughter Anne a nun at St. Ursula's, Louvain.

Her life, written by her confessor, John Mush, exists in two versions. The earlier has been edited by Father John Morris, S.J., in his "Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers", third series (London, 1877). The later manuscript, now at York Convent, was published by W. Nicholson, of Thelwall Hall, Cheshire (London, Derby, 1849), with portrait: "Life and Death of Margaret Clitherow the martyr of York". It also contains the "History of Mr. Margaret Ward and Mrs. Anne Line, Martyrs".

[Note: St. Margaret Clitherow was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970.]

Another description of her life can be found here

Halloween- Friends

We had some friends over for Halloween!
Elliot and Amanda

Elliot was Smarty Pants

Matthew was a Stars Wars thingamabob

Amanda and Elliot pulled in a pretty good haul, didn't they?

The adults all camped out in the living room.

After they made themselves sick with candy, the boys played football on the Wii.

Michelle and Nicholas played that game with the magnetic sticks and marbles.

Andrew and Adelynn played Geo-Tracks

And sweet Rebecca was a cat.