Pumpkins & Halloween

We had a great October with pumpkins and dressing up with friends! 🎃 Most of the month was warm weather and the scenery around our home was spectacular!

Isaac had a hard time deciding  what to be for Halloween! 

Ultimately, Isaac decided to be Mickey Mouse, Francis went as Spider Man, Ellie as a Fairy, and Clare as a Worker-baby.  We had our neighbors over to our place for a little party - including watching the 4 minute clip of Peppa Pig's Halloween - and then we went trick or treating at the townhouses and the Kartause - on the Saturday before Halloween - which was basically our last day of beautiful Fall weather!!

Family Feast Days!

October is filled with Feast Days of our patron Saints!

October 1, Feast of St. Thérèse of Lisieux - patron saint of Elliana Thérèse:

October 1, 2013:



October 2017:





October 4, Feast of St. Francis of Assisi - patron saint of Brian Francis I & II:





October 2017:





Ellie decorated the house with signs she made for Francis - she knows that "St." stands for Saint in English - she just doesn't know it goes before the name... so hence our house was filled with Francis Street signs :)



October 5, MaryClare turns 2 months - she's the only one in our family without a feast day in October - good thing October is the month of the Rosary :)





October 19 - Feast of St. Isaac Jogues & St. René Goupil, North American Martyrs - patron saint of Isaac and me - my middle name René:





We had two of the TOR Sisters over to help celebrate!  Isaac and Sr. Eliana:

All you holy men and women, pray for us!

Isaac’s First Haircut

Yes, it's true - I have not always been in love with Isaac's red hair!  But I've always been in love with him!

But his bright "orange" hair has grown on me :)  And I was super excited to finally get to dress him like the little boy in the beautifully illustrated book The Boy With a Drum.

Finally on this past Sunday (October 13, 2019) - a month shy of him turning 2.5 years old - I gave Isaac his first haircut!  Or at least bang cut - as I realized it was totally in his eyes.  But I wasn't quite ready to part with the baby curls and didn't really know how to cut them...









So two days later, I brought him to our local hairdresser!  She was so sweet and at the end insisted his haircut was free and a present to us!  Apparently this is somewhat common here, for the "baby"'s first haircut to be free!  Although Isaac talked about getting his haircut all the way to the salon, he was silent while we were there.  And was very calm during the actual haircut.  He refused talking once we left and said he wanted to go to Spar to get 'puffs' - so that we did!













My little red head is growing up!  This one is anyway... as for  red head #2 - she's still teeny tiny ;)



FYI - The haircut has not improved his ability to not remove his diaper at inappropriate times!!

Brian Wrote a Book: Best Dad Ever

Brian wrote a book (and it's free)!

You can view/download it here: Best Dad Ever: How My Kids Introduced Me to God the Father.

Or you can listen to the free podcast of the book (available on iTunes OR Spotify, Google Podcasts & Podcast Player -- you can click on the links or search "Best Dad Ever" -- if listening to subsequent chapters on Spotify go to October 3, 2019 in the ShareJesus Podcast).  Each chapter is an episode - and the chapter intros feature the voices of Ellie and Francis!  

The book was released on October 1 -- in Brian's words, here's why he chose that date:  

"Today the Church honors St. Therese of Lisieux. She’s even called a Doctor of the Church, though she died at 24 and lived a hidden life of worldly insignificance. What was so profound about St Therese’s faith? She actually believed what Jesus said about His Father. She dared to trust in His goodness, in spite of her weaknesses. In the past seven years of learning how to be a dad, arguing with toddlers and negotiating with infants, I’ve become aware of my limitations and more aware of God the Father’s ridiculous love for me. This book is all about coming to know His goodness through my weird and stubborn kids."

October 1 was also the date that Brian proposed to me 8 years ago!  And it was the date that he started writing letters to his future wife - who turned out to be me - 12 years ago (more than 3 years before we met)!  When I said yes to Brian's proposal, I knew he would be an amazing husband!  I still had no idea what an incredible father he'd turn out to be!  Although the book is about God the Father, I believe my kids would totally agree with me that Brian is one of the best dads ever!  So despite what his 'critics' are saying (see his ad below) - you should totally read his book!  

It's available at Redeemed Online, where you can also read 2 blog posts that he wrote as an intro to the book!

The Sitcom Dad and God the Father

Best Dad Ever