Ashes to ashes

Today is Ash Wednesday. Our foreheads were marked with ashes as the words "You are dust, and to dust you shall return" were whispered. Our Lenten journey has begun as we attempt to follow in Christ's footsteps. Christ's cross becomes our own and vice versa. We prepare our hearts and minds for Jesus' crucifixion and eventual resurrection from the dead. Ashes serve as a beautiful reminder of our humility. The palms that we received during last years Palm Sunday were burned and are used as the sacramental ashes that grace our foreheads on this day. I pray that this Lent will bring our family and others closer to Christ. Alms giving, fasting, prayer and spiritual renewal are all ways to help bring us closer to God's kingdom here on Earth. Are you ready to begin walking on this Lenten journey one step at a time? I hope that I am. God's peace to you all.

Winter randomness

We've been staying pretty close to home these days. It's been cold, we've been sick off and on and frankly being home is just cozier!! Jay and Jacob did enjoy an afternoon at the WNED Kid Fest last Saturday. Jacob loves all the PBS characters especially Super Why and Big Bird (as you can see by his face in the picture below). Pure joy!

Curious George and Jacob.Playing with Thomas the train at Kid Fest! Mr. Ham and Mommy! Fighting the winter blues by finger painting.
Our little sweet. Raphael has been crawling EVERYWHERE. Do you like our new rug? It was drastically on sale at a liquidation sale. I love it!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2+4+6

=12 the number of years we'll have been in Buffalo after Jay's oral surgery program is completed. We first came to Buffalo after we were married in the summer of 2004. Jay was accepted into UB's natural sciences masters program which he completed two years later (with a concentration in cancer pathology). Meanwhile I worked full-time (first at Autistic Services Inc. and later at Summit Educational Resources) and completed a masters in library and information studies. While Jay was finishing up his masters he applied to D.D.S. programs and was accepted into many. Once again we decided to stay in Buffalo due to its close proximity to family, cheap tuition and because we found that we liked it here (honestly). Almost six years later Jay has been accepted into the University at Buffalo's oral and maxillofacial surgery program. Buffalo, Buffalo and more Buffalo!

When MATCH day came I really did not have any clue as to where we would end up. For some reason Kentucky kept sticking in my head (I'm sure it would have been wonderful there). I prayed every night that God would lead us to where we were meant to be and he did. We found out that we have six more years in Buffalo! My one sister is convinced that this means we will stay in Buffalo indefinitely. Who knows maybe she's right.

Honestly, I am tired of all the negativity that surrounds the Queen city. When I tell people I live in Buffalo so often they just say "oh you must hate all that snow." Sigh! So we get some snow and our winters are long and cold (this is true in other places on our beautiful Earth as well). I think this makes many of the people around here stronger and gives them a little bit of a tougher skin.

When Jay and I were first married and before we had kids, we were able to explore the beautiful city and all it has to offer. We ate out at many of the restaurants on Hertel, Elmwood and Delaware, we walked around Delaware Park , went on local tours, visited museums, saw some shows, explored the many Catholic Churches and grew to love this city! We love how Catholic Buffalo is (what a wonderful diocese we are living in) and how proud people are of the Buffalo Bills, even if they are on a ten year losing streak. We love Buffalo chicken wings, the summer time festivals, its close proximity to Niagara Falls, the history and the beautiful parks and trails.

It may not be a warm and sunny tropical island, but Jay and I are proud to call Buffalo, NY our home!

p.s. We put in an offer on a house...more details to follow.

Visits with the grandparents

Raphael is now sitting up and army crawling everywhere!

Two weeks ago my parents decided to spend a weekend in Buffalo. They spent one night at a nearby hotel since they had a free night's stay and they knew we'd all love to take advantage of the pool and weight room. Jacob loved swimming and my parents said the room was quite comfortable (better then the usual air mattress on the apartment floor). We also went to the Antique Mall in Clarence. It is the largest indoor/outdoor antique center in the state. The boys seemed to enjoy looking at the endless rooms of furniture, old toys,

books, lamps, etc. My Dad offered to buy me a $175 antique nativity (since he knew I have been looking for one), but I told him this was a little on the pricey side. Thanks anyway Dad! We went to Red Robin for only our second time since living in Buffalo. We all raved about the burgers.

It was a relaxing weekend. We topped it off by going to mass and then enjoying a salmon dinner together. Sitting in the Lego castle.Uncle Chad and little Raphael.Aunt Laura, Grandma and Jacob.Grandma and Jacob playing with Legos.This past weekend we spent a few hours with Grandma, Poppy, Uncle Chad and Aunt Laura at the Strong Museum of Play. We checked out the new Lego exhibit and had a blast. Jacob couldn't believe that he was in Elmo's world and wanted to play with the extra large Mr. Potato Head all day.We love our families! Thanks for playing with us and we'll see you soon.

Happy birthday hon!

Jay turned 28 yesterday! We stayed home to celebrate and enjoyed some quality family time and good eats. We had pizza for dinner and I made a Texas sheet cake for dessert.

Happy birthday to the love of my life!

Christmas 2009

We spent Christmas break with both the families. It was truly a great Christmas! We especially enjoyed seeing Maria, who has been in Malawi for the past four months. We did not spend as much time with Rebecca as we would have liked and unfortunately did not see Jim at all, due to his crazy schedule.

This year Jacob was also able to understand a little bit about baby Jesus, Santa Claus and yes how to open presents (in fact he wanted to open ALL the presents...we'll have to work on that).

Christmas eve we started the tradition of reading from the Gospel of Luke (well we tried to..it's kind of hard with an antsy two year old) and followed this with dinner and Christmas Eve mass. We were going to bring the kids, but decided that this was not a good idea.

Christmas morning we opened gifts and then headed to Grandma and Poppy A.'s house. We spent the day with Laura, Chad, Deand and Mom and Dad. Dad A. went all out and meticulously planned and prepared a delicious SEVEN course Christmas meal. Below is the menu (sorry I don't have pictures to make you all jealous):

-Polenta with homemade tomato sauce

-Homemade french onion soup

-Buffet style salad

-Lemon sorbet with mint

-Chicken marsala

-Filet mignon

-Cherry cheesecake and Christmas cookies

The chef and his grandson.

I enjoyed it since we did not snack all day and instead spread out the dinner over a period of three hours. Granted we ate alot of food, but it was fabulous and will be difficult to top next year!

Jacob placing baby Jesus (the true reason for the season) in the manger.

Our attempt at a family picture! Jacob received his first lawn mower from Grandma and Poppy and a John Deere tractor from Grandma and Poppa..both sets of grandparents were thinking alike!

Aunt Maria and her godson.

Grandma K. and Raphael.

We were able to meet up with Clare and Charlie after almost three years!! We had a great time catching up.

Raphael's first Christmas...what a blessing he is to our family.Grandma A. and the cutie. Sadly, we did not have a white Christmas until three days after the fact. Jacob loved helping Poppa shovel the driveway....this might come in handy in future years! How I felt when the holidays were all over (happy, yet exhausted).

It's a NEW year!

Happy 2010!!

I still haven't posted Christmas pictures (I promise to do that soon). We've been going a little stir crazy lately, but who knows maybe we'll be moving somewhere warm in the future? Here is what the boys have been up to.

Jacob is obsessed with wearing hats. Jacob also has to make sure Raphael is wearing a hat at all times. Raphael managed to take part of his onesie off and then fall asleep!
Raphael received a little hair cut! His hair was getting in his eyes and knotting in the back.

Jacob likes to wrestle Raphael..I keep telling him Raphael isn't quite ready for this!

p.s. Jacob's new favorite book is "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak. He is always talking about the "wild things" and also calls Raphael "wild man!" Too cute.

Inspiration

Archbishop Dolan, the Archbishop of New York City, is a true inspiration. He recently started his own blog called "The Gospel in the Digital Age" and I love it. Check it out: http://blog.archny.org/

As a mom I am finding out how important it is for me to find time for the daily mass readings, lectio divina and now I can add this blog to my spiritual nourishment.

Here's to a happy, healthy and holy 2010!

one, TWO!

Jacob turned two on December 21st! I can't believe that two years have already come and gone. Jacob is a true joy! He's full of non-stop energy, wit, tickles and laughter. We celebrated his birthday with a basketball themed lunch at our house. He decided that day that he didn't want to share any of his toys, but it ended up being a fun and crazy party!Jacob, Chase and Haven playing pin the basketball on the hoop.

Jacob has been talking up a storm lately! He loves playing with Mr. potato head, trucks, trains and basketballs. He is a terrific little eater and enjoys sitting on the counter and "helping" us prepare food. He also has been a wonderful big brother lately. We can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us!!

How do I blow out these candles?

Happy birthday little man!

Going private

For 2010 we are making our family blog private. Lately I have been worrying too much about random strangers viewing pictures of our family. Call me a worrier, but I'll feel better once I know who is invited to look at our blog.

Email me or leave a comment if you'd like to continue to read about our lives.

Hugs and kisses,

Sarah, Jay and the boys