Out of Hand: March 2014

40 Sights in 40 Days: St. James Church

Monday, March 24, 2014

We were close enough to St. James, so we stopped here too. Isaac really likes this church. We have a sketch of it hanging in our dining room.

This stained glass is Christ the King and the four evangelists. It's blocked by organ pipes on both sides, but quite beautiful.

Of course, the stairs were a big hit.

Andre slept through this entire visit.

40 Sights in 40 Days: St. Philip Church

St. Philip holds a special spot in my heart because of some time I spent here just after the Hubs and I reconnected.

Five years of unanswered questions seemed to converge and resolve in an instant, leaving me feeling more gratitude than I've ever felt in my life.

Right here in a dark, empty church in early January:

Today, I had so much more to be thankful for!

This one tried really, really hard to break into the baptismal pool.

The boys were enchanted with the stained-glass windows. You can't tell from my phone photos, but the colors illuminated the entire church beautifully.

40 Sights in 40 Days: Holy Epiphany Byzantine Church

This church is a mile down the road from St. Ambrose. It is united with Rome and is listed on our diocesan web page. Unfortunately, it was locked when we arrived. But, we peeked in and saw some amazing icons!

This one was outside. The boys were really bummed that we couldn't get inside. They love icons!

40 Sights in 40 Days: St. Ambrose Church

We visited some churches that were near our play date this morning. Isaac enjoyed seeing the bells up close at St. Ambrose.

This church has a "modern" design (dark interior, circular) and is loaded with religious images (stained glass) and sacramental language (see glass door etchings).

Check out the stained glass windows we found:

A St. Damian of Molokai stained-glass window was also there. Maybe we will add a Damian to our family in the future...

Weekend Wins

Our favorite mornings are the ones when Dada is home.

He always has fun ideas.

Isaac tried to knock over this tower with his ball, but it wouldn't budge, once again proving that Dada has special powers.

We might be obsessed with Frozen after watching it at the cousins several times.

But we are still boys.

We topped off the weekend with a birthday party at My Gym.

The boys received goodie bags at the end. Isaac woke up at 5:10 this morning to let us know that his foam airplane broke. "Dada, I have to fix the one airplane. I HAVE to fix it!" Thankfully, he went back to bed. And this one chilled out until 7:00 am:

Saturday, March 22, 2014

"Work" is the running theme of this year.

Here are few of the Hub's shots from business trips to NYC.

Bernie Madoff's old office:

Empire State Building:

Hello Kitty in Times Square:

Times Square Ball:

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

"You're so pretty, Mom. I love you."

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Yes, we had another snow day yesterday.

A friend recommended this crypt chapel when she heard our kids' names. So, we added it to the list. I wouldn't have gone to Georgetown otherwise.

There are stained glass windows for the North American Martyrs.

I really wanted to visit all of the chapels at Georgetown, but there was a funeral going on in Dahlgren and too much foot traffic with all of the snow. It was super-easy to get to Georgetown, but very difficult to park and get to this particular chapel. Note to visitors: park outside the gates and walk onto campus from there. Isaac enjoyed this trip and keeps talking about "George Washingtown" now. Andre was very chatty, particularly when we stepped into this chapel. I wish I knew what he was saying. It was all very happy-sounding. :)

Friday, March 14, 2014

Speaking of Arlington Ridge, we drove by some pretty fancy homes to get here. This church is nestled in a quiet neighborhood.

It's entire 2nd floor is a cry room. It's one of the only cry rooms with a nice view of the whole church. We arrived at noon Mass time. So, it was nice to be there without worrying about all of the noise the boys were making. To the bottom left is a beautiful side chapel to Our Lady of Lourdes.

Isaac touched ALL of the sand and sticks at ALL of the candle stands. It's what he does.

The Stations of the Cross are beautiful. My camera did not catch the colors like they are in person. Andre was very interested in these.

He was also glued to a blue and gold stained glass in the narthex. If you look closely you can see it in his eyes.

He is a very smart and attentive boy.

40 Sights in 40 Days: St. Rita Church

When I was single and house sitting in Arlington Ridge, I jogged here and ran into the Hubs at a Saturday morning Mass. I remember thinking what a shame it was that he was going into seminary. Now being here just makes me happy. :)