Happy Thanksgiving

We hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving.  

This year we read The Pilgrim Stories from their persecutions in England - travels to Holland - Voyage to America - and the first Thanksgiving.  It was a wonderful book and while I read it Nate was sitting on the edge of his seat the whole time.  It took us a week to read the book.  I think I will read it again next year.  Click Here is a link to the book on google books.  I printed it out and bound the book with gorilla glue and duct tape.

We started our morning with a beautiful Thanksgiving Mass.  Each Thanksgiving a table is set up with various thanksgiving items: wheat, corn, squash, flowers, etc.  While the gifts are brought to the altar each of these thanksgiving items are brought up and introduced.

For our Thanksgiving Feast... Nate helped me decorate.  Thanks to Carol we had a fresh box of fall leaves to decorate our tables and with the extras we made a fall wreath and clothes-pinned the rest of the leaves all over the house.  It was very festive.  We also made some Pilgrim and Indian Dolls out of toilet paper rolls.  We had some friends over for dinner.  Ben cooked the turkey and our guests brought all the sides and desserts.

A Random Collection of Updates

William's sweet smile on camera.

This picture of Janice is just priceless... She really knows how to have a good time.  Although by the time I took her picture she was ready to collapse from playing so hard outside.

A visit to Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, Jupiter, Florida.  We also had a nice visit with an old friend Staci and her two girls: Addison and Alana.  

Both Ben and I celebrated our 31st Birthdays!  (The toy plane Ben is holding up is a gift hand made and painted by Nate with no direction.  He glued it all together and painted it for Ben's Birthday. It turned out  real nice!)  We are only 8 days apart - even though Ben makes it sound like I'm a century older than him :-)

 God Bless you!

Philip's Birthday

Philip is two.

Gramma's Visit

Gramma came on very short notice to visit us for one week while Ben was gone on deployment.  We had a lot of fun.  Thanks Gramma for the help and love! It always seems too short when visits come and go with family.  The children got to reconnect with Gramma... At one point or another each child got to go out alone on a special errand with Gramma (Mor-Mor).  Philip was the last child to go out alone with Mor-Mor and he had such a wonderful time with her... As we were getting ready to take Gramma to the airport Philip asked where we were going... He firmly told each of us, "Momma you stay here!  Nate - you stay here!  Janice you stay here!  Liam you stay here!  I GO MOR-MOR!"  I'm sure Gramma's heart was melting...

We were blessed to have Ben arrive home one day early!

Williams Baptism

On Saturday Sept 10th William was baptized at The Little Flower Catholic Church by Father Richard Mullen.  Laura Oliver and Nick Kamphaus are William's Godparents.  It was a lovely service and we had a nice reception in the parish hall afterwards.  We were happy to have Will, Laura and Hannah and Nick and Anika join us. All the pictures of the baptism were taken by Melinda. (Thanks Melinda!).  Enjoy.

This was taken before the ceremony.  We got to the church about
30 minutes early and the children were getting bored.

Laura (William's Godmother) and Hannah

Isn't he handsome?

I wanted to get Nate, Janice and Philip together for a photo since they
were dressed so nice.  This is the best we got.  They were quite wiggly.... 

And they preferred to make faces...

Then we tried to get the cousins too.  This is the best shot.

Anika and Nick (William's Godfather)

Here is the cake.  Once we announced the cake was to be cut... it was
gone in less than 10 minutes! I think Janice had the first and BIGGEST piece.
We had the reception catered by Grandpa's Bakery and they did a great job.
Best of all we did not have to set up, serve or clean up - they did it all.

Garment Restoration

I decided after some more consideration not to do too much to this garment.  I did soak the garment and it lighted a little bit.  After the baptism we are going to send it to a restoration specialist and have the job professionally done.

Antique Baptismal Garment

Last Sunday we met Ms. Connie Coutiere after Mass.  She approached our family offering a gift for William's baptism... an 85-Year-Old baptismal garment.  The garment was hand-stiched and embroidered by the Dominican Nuns in 1926 especially the children of Val & Evelyn Coutiere (Connie's parents).

The Coutiere Children's Baptism's:
Pauline - 1926
Paul - 1928
Constance (Connie) - 1930
Claudette - 1932

The only children in Connie's family were born to her sister and the children were not baptized as infants.  Therefore the garment has been sitting in storage for many years.  Connie thought about having the garments framed but felt that such garments should be "used."  She asked if we would accept it as a gift and baptize William in the garment and continue to pass it on.

We were happy to accept such a special gift from Connie.  I personally love "old-fashion" things and love tradition!  We already have two baptismal garments.  One baby boy suit which was gifted to us by Auntie Em (Ben's sister - Nate's Godmother).  Both Nate and Philip were baptized in the baby boy suit.  My Gramma Jan (Janice Elaine Senior) hand-made a beautiful silk baptismal dress for Janice.  And now William will be baptized in this beautiful and delicate 85-year-old garment.  For our future children we can choose from any of the three garments... and continue to pass all the garments down our family tree.

Restoration Project:
Yesterday I contacted an antique clothing restoration specialist and sent pictures of the garment to her.  She gave me detailed instructions for removing some of the staining and yellow discoloration of the fabric.  I am in process of restoring the garment.  I am going to replace the ribbons as they are tattered and very fragile... Here are some before pictures. I will post pictures of the garment when it's restored and pressed. (Not pictured is a simple receiving blanket - there is minimal yellowing and no stains - excellent condition.)

Baptismal Dress

Baptismal Smock (to be worn under the dress above)

Baptismal Cape (lined with satin/silk)

Up-close of the hood.

A Note on RUST: 

The stains on the baptismal dress are rust stains.  When the restoration specialist suggested rust... I thought to myself - "why would clothing have rust stains?  Who would store such a garment with some kind of metal object?"  After some discussions with Ben and researching - apparently rust spots on clothes is not uncommon.  It has to do with minerals in the water and moisture in the air/storage area...  So it's important to properly store heirlooms - which I will be looking into for all our baptismal garments.

William Benjamin Oliver

William Benjamin Oliver

born August 18th at 9:18pm EST

8 pounds, 21 inches long

This was such a beautiful birth experience!  So peaceful and calm... I didn't have to go anywhere or get in a car in the middle of labor. Our little one was born in the water and I got to guide him out myself with my hands and I brought him up to my chest immediately afterwards.  I didn't make much noise or grunting like my previous births because I was so peaceful and felt so calm.  I would say the whole labor was about 9 hours... and it was really a treat!  I could not have done it without the support of my wonderful husband and midwives (who were very relaxed and hands off).  The children were upstairs asleep during most of the hard labor and discovered their baby brother William in the morning.  A big and wonderful thank you to Melinda our dear friend who cared for our other three children during labor and delivery!  Enjoy the photos.

In-between contractions about 2 hours before birth

My dear husband offering back relief during a contraction 

Moments after his birth... cord still attached and pulsing...

A beautiful and tender moment (even though its fuzzy).

Daddy cut the cord and helped with the weight and exam

Daddy & William about 45 minutes after his birth

Our beautiful midwives (Elizabeth on the left & Janice Heller on the right)

Settling into bed with my new baby and drinking a short glass of "honey/apple mead" brewed especially by my husband for the baby's birthday.

The next morning....

Janice was the first to wake this morning and discover her new baby brother William. 

Although we woke Nate last night to meet William he was too tired to realize what was going on...
He was so excited this morning to meet William and so tender.

All four siblings.

Philip and William.

William wearing a onsie that was painted by big sister Janice a few weeks before birth.
We all painted a shirt for the baby and he will be wearing them over the next few days.