Tom's Italy Pilgrimage

Tom went to Italy last month with the confraternity of St Peter and he enjoyed visiting many places related to our Christian faith. First stop was in Norcia where they toured the birth places of Sts. Benedict and Scolastica http://wordbytes.org/pope/SaintBenedict.htm

Mike and Tom in Norcia

After Norcia they went to Cascia and visited the convent where St Rita lived and died http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=205

as well as a Eucharistic Miracle that happened in Cascia.

Here are Neill, Mike and Tom in Assisi

The stable where St Francis was born

And then off to Rome...
This was taken from the second highest point in Rome at the North American Collage.

Michangelo's Pieta

Mike holding Omaha's banner on October 14th, day they visited the Pope

Tom took this picture of Pope Benedict XVI that day

Tom said the highlight of the trip was getting to see these relics of the Passion...

They also visited the catacombs of St Callixtus http://www.catacombe.roma.it/en/dettaglio.html
The Holy Stairs, St John Lateran (the first Christian church after the persecution), St Mary Major, St Paul outside the Wall, the Trevi Fountain, the Sistene chapel and the Colleseum

This is my favorite picture of St Peter's that Tom took.

He saw many things that deepened his faith. It was definitely a pilgrimage well traveled.

Halloween Night

This year we tried something a little different for Halloween night. Our parish was holding an All Saints Day Party as an alternative to trick or treating. We decided to go to that this year and it was so much fun! Not only were many of our friends there, but there was a parade of saints, games, candy and prizes... all following a great potluck dinner.


Our 2 oldest boys wanted to go as their patron saints: Saint Dominic Savio and Saint Blaise. Xavier went as Pope Saint Pius X and Zachary went as Saint John Vianney.

It was fun and we all like it more than trick or treating so it looks like we have ourselves a new family tradition!

Thank you to the Sullivans for letting us borrow the undergarment and thanks to my mom for finishing up the robe. I didn't have the time to finish the sewing so my mom took over. Mom also made Dominic's white "surpluss" What a nice job she did! I ordered Xavier's costume. It's a baptismal gown that just happens to look like what the pope wears.

They played Noah's Ark

and Crossing the Red Sea

along with quite a few other games that they could play as many times as they wanted.

Their prizes were candy after each game or a token you could trade at the prize table.

What a wonderful treat!

Pumpkin Patch

On Tuesday October 28 our family got to go to Vala's Pumpkin Patch! It started off a little chilli but it soon warmed up. Our favorite's included the tricycle races, the giant slide, Pumpkin cannon, the bouncy pumpkin pillow and eating kettle corn and turkey legs together on an old wagon. There was so much to do and it was a lot of fun. But after 4 and a half hours Mom and Xavier were ready to go. The rest of them would have stayed hours more I think.