it's Christmas Time...how are YOU doing?

**I wrote this before Christmas, but never posted it, so I realize some of it is a little dated :)
regardless, this is all still true! Christmas is a 12 day celebration and you need to remember that...not to mention this is a good way to live regardless of whether or not it's the Christmas season.
____________

One of my favorite priests ever pointed out the other day that in all the rush to get ready for Christmas, sometimes it's really easy for us to remember what it's all really about...when someone asks you if you're all ready for Christmas do you reply "well, I still need to get to confession" or "hmm...I haven't really fully given myself to the Lord this morning"?

you do?? wow :)

no, but really, a lot of what you hear nowadays (from me included) is something like "auuhggghhh!!!!  I need to finish shopping!!" or, from someone more competent (Nina?) "oh, yeah, I finished three weeks ago...".  But either way, I feel like it is incredibly easy for Christmas to turn into one big celebration and exchanging of gifts.

I know this post is starting to sound like a downer, and I'm not trying to say that you shouldn't celebrate and be happy...I mean, come on, it's only like, the most important birthday in the history of birthday's...

So--lesson to be learned from this scatterbrained post...the Christmas season isn't just about presents and food, but waking up each morning and choosing to get down on your knees and offer that day up to God...

xoxo,
Rachel and Nina

PS-the goal here is that others see God in you...yup :)

New look?

What do y'all think of the new look?
I think I just got bored with it and decided to change it, but now I'm not so sure...let me know what you think!!

With love,
Rachel and Nina <3

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!!

Can you believe it's almost Christmas? Christmas Eve is here!!! I feel like it's actually starting to feel like Christmas, thanks to the (somewhat late) appearance of snow, the real tree, and the smiles hanging on people's faces like Christmas stockings!!

Much too excited for Christmas. :D

Walkin'  in a winter wonderland....I LOVE SNOW!!!!

Chocolate--what can I say?!?!
Except a big thank-you to God for inventing it :)
The magical qualities of chocolate include
making great Christmas presents and memories.

One of my favorite things about December is that we light
fires indoors...ahhhh :)

Caroling!!!
Introducing people to the real reason for Christmas: Jesus!!

The red, green and white lights on our Christmas tree (it's real this
year, and it smells wonderful! It's a Frazier Fir--
not too poky and not
high-maintenance :)
This picture was a time-exposure, with me twirling the camera

Baby Jesus <3

Getting ready for Christmas Eve Mass.
Essie looked like a little sugar plum fairy.

Winterlicious!

I can't believe it's almost Christmas! I don't know about all of you, but to me it feels like November not almost January!!

If you can believe it, we're all done with getting ready for the Christmas hassle (look at that!! and it's not even Christmas eve!!)...presents bought and wrapped, tree up, decorations out...even the stockings are up on the mantle!

I love Ave Maria Radio!! Look at all the yummies they sent us :)

Delicious smelling pine cone wreath!!!

One of our many stockings :)

yay for presents :)

a little Christmas Creche camel :)

Reindeer!

My dad got these three *special* presents for my mom <3

Let us see your Christmas preparations by linking them in the comments below!!

Merry Christmas!!
xoxo,
Rachel

Like to click buttons??  Make sure to hit our like button (or whatever it's called :)

The Hobbit!!! (Again :)

So, two days ago, Rachel and I went to see the Hobbit!!
It was AMAZING! I was very surprised, because I liked many of the characters better in the movie than in the book, especially Thorin (the lead dwarf). And (guess what!) it actually stayed true to the book's plot!!! I loved how they even kept in some of the small details from the book, especially the two songs and the riddles. 
They added certain characters and events to the movie that were from J.R.R. Tolkein's notes (appendices), not actually from the book, adding a little twist. One of these characters was Radagast, the brown wizard. I liked his role in it, because it helped foreshadow the LOTR movies, and it added a little comic relief :) 
I found out that it was only a third of the actual movie, when Rachel whispered near the end, "I think this is were they will stop!" 
I don't know if I can stand the wait for the next two parts of the movie. But this will be better in the long run because the director won't have to cut anything good  that was in the book from the movie.
I highly recommend the Hobbit for EVERYONE, and I might even say this was my favorite movie of the year!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5xpcwquIpRQ

~Nina

Happy Feast day of our Lady of Guadalupe!

That's right folks! Today (or I guess yesterday now) was the feast day of one of the coolest ladies on earth...my mom!! And yup, yours too :)  I always new we were related!!

This is a picture my  mom drew of herself, many much years ago yesterday...quite the artist, isn't she??

In honor of our Lady, we (my dad, sister and I) saw the new-ish movie For Greater Glory.  My dad has been trying to get me to see it for along time, but as I am not a huge one for war films (unless they're either Gladiator or the Patriot) I hadn't wanted to go see it--in this case, I was completely wrong in my assumptions, as it was a great movie, albeit sad, and though in a few spots it was a little cheesy, they never lasted long and was overall a great film.

Anyway, as the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is very important in our house, I thought I might put up a post on her with the basic story outline for all who might be interested.  Unfortunately, her feast happens to be right before my five finals, so instead, you can go here to find the general story.  As I am so good at getting side-tracked, I guess you got a little movie review too, but the general idea of this post was to wish you all a blessed feast day :)

And so...a blessed feast to all!
xoxo, Rachel

A little comic relief

So, I don't even know if this should count as a post, as it's just a bunch of things i found elsewhere, but enjoy!  A few things to brighten your sad life without me :)

Now, in general, I won't post something from a TV show, as you would have to know the show to get the joke, but I'm breaking my rule in this case cause you don't necessarily need to know the background and it's pretty awesome :)

the runner-up :)

And yes, for all you (if any) wondering...that was doctor Who :)

And finally, the winner, the iconic evil cat :)

So, if any of you think I'm tired, you're right: I'm tired. But anyway, hope this brightens your day!

~Rachel Guadalupe 

Downtown

 So, last Saturday, Rachel and I went downtown!!! We got bubble tea (Rachel's first time), strolled through the Diag, and modeled in Orchid Lane (everything is 15 bucks or less there!)
Here are some pics:

Orchid Lane--maybe my new favorite clothing store?
They sell jewelry, carvings, clothing, and random exotic
things, like henna and Hindu-dots. And EVERYTHING
IS $15 or less!

The diag--sunny, 60 degrees, beautiful!

So...at first we thought these were dresses,
and then we saw they were pant-outfit-things...
probably straight out of Africa! Now
I wish we had bought them, Rachel--they were
so crazy that every day wearing them would
make the day fun. Haha, can you see us going to
HSC in those?!?!
:)

Random skirts we found. Colorful! 

BUBBLE TEA!!!
At first Rachel liked it...

but later she felt like throwing up.  Btw, bubble tea
is a mixture of flavored tea (I got blueberry, Rachel
got kiwi) with tapioca bubbles at the bottom. I love it
and could drink bubble tea everyday, but it is
pretty strange, and takes some getting used to.

 We had a great time, trying the very unique things that make A2 special! :D
Nin@ and R@chel
maniraforever@gmail.com

Our Country...

worries me sometimes. Namely, NOW

Obviously not enough people payed attention to the Facebook post a few days before the election "Change your clocks on Sunday and your president on Tuesday...".  So now we are stuck for another four years with Barack Obama as our president, and the only thing I can tell you is to PRAY!!

In the words of Fr. Ed Fride, pastor of my local Church: "If as many people prayed for our president as they did complain about him, he would be a walk-on-water glow-in-the-dark saint by now" :D

So go out.  pray for our Country; pray for our President, and above all, pray for a miracle!

~toothyandtoothless

Halloween!

So, as most of you know, this past Wednesday was Halloween!!  Nina and I got together with a couple friends and we all went trick or treating together, our costumes being based off of some sort of Doctor Seuss character or another. (I'm pretty sure this is our last year-Nina :)

Nina and I were Thing 1 and Thing 2 (we figured if everyone thought we were twins anyway we might as well go as some :), Rosie was the Cat in the Hat, and Sarah was The Amazin' Maisie with her lovely tail :)


I never thought I''d say this, but yay for my daddy always taking pictures!! This way I'll always have something to remember that night from, not to mention, I have something to post on this blog along with the post :)

The four of us...quite lovely, are we not?? :)

Rosie and Sarah...you guys are so cute!!  (and look, you can see Sarah''s tail in this one :)

Thing 1 and Thing 2...what can we say?? <3
Look! You can see the bit of blue spray we put in our hair!
Look hard--I don't think it's just me. Although, I might
just have to clean my glasses. :) 

                                             

:D

Sarah--she's turning the room pink. :)

We had a great time and took in a huge amount of sugar (just what we need, right?)
Toothy and Toothless, or
Nina and Rachel

***Tell us what you did for Halloween and link pictures if you can!!

The Hobbit!

The Hobbit comes out in December, and I am SUPER EXCITED!!! AHHH!!!

It will be full of action, adventure, and excitement.

I hope the script stays accurate with the book, to make the hobbit all it originally was.
Of course, the movie will not be as good as the book (because, let's face it, imagination ALWAYS beats reality), but if the script stays accurate to the book, it will be pretty darn cool.


and...*drumroll*...it has RA!!
Iy you don't know what I'm talking about...watch the movie!

Love you guys!
~Nina

Downton Abbey...great, but proceed with caution

I recently discovered a TV show (available on DVDs) called Downton Abbey. These episodes are about the life of the servants way back when Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice. Downton Abbey offers a new outlook, since when we think of England back in the 1800s, we think of lacy gowns and top hats and tea and ladies and gentleman, and grand old mansions, but we don't typically think of who had to make sure these mansions of beauty and people living within were properly taken care of, and we don't usually think of how hard that could be.
So, I'll stop talking, and just give you the trailer:

Downton Abbey is not rated. I do NOT recommend this series for anyone under 14, because of some mature elements (There is a not-good gay servant). I have only seen disc 1 and 2 of season 1, so it may change later on, but I can say that so far this is a very enjoyable TV series.
~Toothless

I love this show too but I have to agree with Nina...definitely not for younger kids (Nina and I had a screaming fit/reeeaaally freaked out when it got a little...creepier :)

I do recommend this show though, just have that fast-forward button ready!

~Toothy

RIP Peter Campbell

Dear All,
Yesterday afternoon I found out that Peter Campbell, one of my first and best friends in Michigan--really like a brother to me, died the night before in his sleep, most likely due to a leak in his old propane heater.  He was only 23, but I feel he was one of the closest people to God I know.  In the eight years I have known him, I have literally never seen/heard him do anything mean at all...I have a feeling he is already in Heaven, but keep praying for him anyway! 

With Gabe in our house

Peter, being Peter :)

With his cousin Meghan 

A friend who recently lost his own sister said that he doesn't ask God why He took her after only 22 years, but instead thanks Him for giving her to them for 22 years, so I am hoping that everyone can take that approach to the situation.  Thank you for all the prayers for our family and his that have already come, and to those who will be praying!

St Peter Pray for us!
~Rachel

October!!!

Sarah K. at the Student Council Bonfire at the Carlson's.
They had a pretty awesome rope swing.

October is finally here!!!
October is DEFINITELY my favorite time of year (Maybe--it's too hard to decide :).
Everything is Beautiful--

Corn fields-- you gotta love em'. 

Produce!! Oranges, purples, blues, reds, greens.
October is the month of harvest... Yum :)

Sunsets <3 It gets darker quicker, and the sunsets seem to get more
beautiful each day. 

All the Pine needles turning orange :)

Mushrooms...
This one is a shaggy mane, and it's edible! You are
supposed to cook it in Lemon juice and butter.

Apple Cider. This year we've only got a little bit
 (due to the apple blossom shortage--whoever heard of that!)
 but it's tradition to have Apple Cider in the fall (Danny's enjoying it :)

Corn..again
I love corn fields! They are just so beautiful.

Orange, yellow and red trees.

~Nina Gabriella

DIY post...lots of fall fun!

So since fall is my favorite season (so many beautiful colors!!) I thought I would do a little DIY post on some fun fall projects!!

Katie of Skunkboy Creatures had this great idea for a Halloween costume!! I'm pretty sure my little sister id going to use this one!

Raggedy Ann Doll:

I love his costume cause you can find most of the outfit around the house, and what you don't already have, you can easily find at a second-hand store, or, in the case of the wig, make it yourself!!

You'll need: Red yarn cut to desired length (mine was 40 inches), felt strips (10 x 2 inches), scissors, embroidery floss or thread, 2 hair combs per wig...


Here's how to make a simple yarn wig with a middle part: Steps 1-3: Gathering your yarn together, find the center. Using your felt strip as backing, begin sewing small sections with a backstitch. The area you are stitching together will end up being your center part. Steps 4-6: Continue sewing on small sections until you reach the end of your felt strip. Once it is completed, flip it over. Starting at the same spot you began sewing on the yarn, stitch a comb onto the "front" of your wig. After you've gotten the comb on, trim the ends of your wig and try it on!

For some adorable bangs, you can easily take a shorter length of yarn, find the front/center of your wig and stitch that on in one chunk. Just like real hair, you will need to trim them to the desired length.

To complete this super cute look, style the wig with pigtails, braids, bows and flowers! Wear a fun outfit and be sure to OVER-accessorize by adding bows, aprons, tights and cute details. Enjoy!!

~Toothy and Toothless :)

I need a constant reminder...

Introducing...

Mother Teresa. Hmm, what can I say? She is amazing!
My favorite quotes are from her: 

This is good to remember, especially in the school year!

Blessed Mother Teresa-- Please pray for us!