Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!!! Yesterday was fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun! So here's a recap of the day: I woke up at 6:00 to get ready to serve the 7:30 mass. Before mass I had to light the candles, and during Christmas, our church uses a candelabra and those candles are annoying. During the mass it  was, like, all seven candles were lit on one side and the other side there were 3-7 candles lit. It looked ridiculous. I lit all of them in the beginning but they all went out. Fr. Joe celebrated. And in his homily,he told a joke: There was a Catholic priest, a Protestant minister, and a Jewish Rabbi, who were all friends with each other. You know, they played cards together, they hung out a lot. But the two Christians were always trying to get their Jewish friend to convert to Christianity. Then it was near Christmas time and the two Christians received a Christmas card from their Jewish friend. This is  what it said: Roses are red, violets are bluish, when the Messiah comes, you'll wish you were Jewish. It was hilarious. Now fast-forward to the end of mass, when Fr. Joe said " Please turn to page ___ and join me in singing O come, O come, Emanuel." And I muttered under my breath, "I thought Emanuel already came." I was sure he meant O come All Ye Faithful. So mass eneded and Dad and went home, Paul and Mom are still sleeping. I grabed my stocking and Paul's stocking and give Paul's stocking to him. We looked in our stockings and dig out chewing gum, Under Amour socks (those could come in handy for Basketball), Baltimore Ravens pencils, and ear buds. We go to our living room and start unwrapping gifts. Paul got me a purple titanium necklace. I now have a blue one, a orange one, and a purple one, (I need a red one next). I found a square box that was addressed to me. I opened it up. It was a Nike + fuelband! The top thing on my Christmas list! What the fuelband is is a nice watch you can wear around your wrist and it's going to put a number on there and that's going to be your fuel point number. We finished unwrapping presents and Mom and went to the computer to open a Nike fuel account for me. I put it on and went out for a quick run to the edge of my block. Then the rest of the day, we tried out our new presents. I got an Air Hogs helicopter. It didn't last so long. I was flying it and I wasn't watching where I was going and I crashed in to a tree branch and the helicopter lost a wing =(. So Paul and watched Christmas basketball. Until our elderly next door neighbor stopped by for Christmas dinner. Then our cousins from Virginia came. Paul and I started showing our cousin Peter our gifts. Then we ate dinner which was delicious!!!!!!!!!! Then we introduced Peter to our hockey table. And then he used his iPhone 4 to be our D.J. He played some good songs and then we got to... Ganman Style by that idiot Psy. Then the evening came to a close. Everyone went home, and I went to Nike.com  and plugged my fuelband into the computer and uploaded all the data. I had 5,173 fuel points. Then I went to bed. And that was Christmas day.

St. Francis Xavier feast day sacristy tale

Today was my feast day! Last year I didn't serve because I had a cold but I served this year! So I got there, it was dark. Before I looked at the priest schedule, I was, like, please. Don't let it be Fr. Joe. It was Fr. Joe, but he was supposed to sub for Fr. Michael. So I got vested and waited for someone else. But then I realized something. Fr. Joe before mass, usually sits in the front pew praying. But he wasn't there. Then Dad came in and then Mr. Joe one of the men who goes to mass told Dad that Fr. Joe didn't get the memo. So dad called him,  but Fr. Raymond answered and said he would celebrate. When he got there, I asked him if I should replace Fr. Joe's chalice with his. Father said he would use Fr. Joe's. I lit the candles and when I got to the Advent candles, one of them had a ring on them but I lit another one and Paul went to the sacristy to tell me and had to light the one with the ring on it. So I took the one candle out, and lit the ringed one. Stay tuned

Cold sacristy tale

This morning our home-school group had our monthly TLM. I was serving with Will and Fr. Jason celebrated. We had the mass at the small chapel I've been mentioning. So when I got there, I set up the credence table, you know, put the patten the table, the lavabo dish the cruets... The was the weirdest one. I walk downstairs to get the cruets out of the refrigerator (yes, they keep the cruets in the refrigerator), and Will was walking in. I said hi to him and went to the kitchen to get the cruets. That's when things got weird. I open the refrigerator and look on the shelf where they're supposed to be. They weren't there. So I look on the in the door. There they are. I take them out and realize... THE CRUETS ARE FROZEN!!! Well the water was. There was a huge ice cube in it. Paul was looking over my shoulder and walked outside the kitchen to tell my mom, her friend Mr. Jerry, and the sacristan Ms. Theresa. So Mr. Jerry came in and put some water in  the cruet. Not hot water. The cruet would break! So I take the cruets upstairs put them on the credence table, walk back in the sacristy and tell Will. "Don't tell Father," I told him. During mass when Fr. Jason took the cruet from Will to fill the chalice, he gave the cruet an odd look. And during the lavabo, I dribbled the water onto Fr. Jason's hands. But everything worked out fine. After mass he asked us and I told him. And I told him about the time I served for Fr. Michael and I did the lavabo for him. This is what he said.
"Wash me, O Lord from my iniquity. And cleanse me from my sins. Boy, that water's cold."
Ms. Theresa told me how the cruets got into the freezer. The chapel also does Novus Ordo masses. And the altar boy told Ms. Theresa that he couldn't find any room for them on the shelf so he put them in the door. He didn't say the freezer door.

Thanksgiving

Last night, our family went to our cousins house for thanksgiving. They added pier to their house (they live on the water). It was pretty cool. You could see the inner-harbor from there, and the Chesapeake bay. The thanksgiving football game was on. The Texans were playing the Lions. The Texans scored a touchdown and PAT to tie the game. Then the dads and the kids went outside to play football. I scored one touchdown and did Chad Ochocino's touchdown dance (Irish dancing, which I suck at). Then we went in for dinner. All the kids at our table were talking about the Hunger Games. And they were talking about this guy Pita. One of the kids had a book for the Hunger Games. Like a guide book. And the Pita guy looked like Justin Bieber. Then we finished our dinner then all the kids went outside. Paul and I played football with our cousin Scott. The girls (and one boy who was one of the girls' brother) were playing the Hunger Games. Then we both got bored of our games and the girls started playing "Fashion Walk". Scott was camera man. He was using an ipod. Before I go into this, click here.

Emily: Who wants to be judge? (To me) You can.
Me: Forget it!
Emily: Fine. I will.
Scott: Camera Rolling!
Me (whispering to Paul): Time for some "Romo-bombing"!
Emily: First we have: Isabel from New Jersey!
(right now I'm behind Isabel making faces)
Me (to Paul): WHOOO!!! PANDA SHAKE!!! (We do our accustom handshake)
(I go around again, to get ready for Anna)
Emily: Next, Anna from New York City!
(I'm making faces again)
Emily: Now it's time to announce the winners!
(At that I sneak around behind the stage and start jumping up and down, making faces)
Emily: We have Anna with 50 points! And Isabel with 30 points!
Isabel: Let's play again!
Paul: Time for some more Romo-bombing!
(I go around again and Romo bomb Isabel. She noticed me =0)
Isabel: Hey get back here!
Me: AHHHHHH!!!!
(I make another attempt on Anna. Isabel notices me and chases me)
Me: Shoot!!!
Emily: Time to announce the winners!
(again I romo bomb the winners.)
Emily: We have Anna with 60 points! Monkey boy (me), with -100 points, and Isabel with 40 points.
(then they all chase me)
Me: HASTA LA VIESTAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Isabel (chasing me into the house): Stay in there!
(I don't)
Me (coming out laughing): HOO! HOO! Consider yourselves ROMO-BOMBED!!
Them: What-o bombed?
Emily: Let's just go to my room where we can really dress up.
Me: That's a good idea. Cause I won't be there to Romo-bomb you.

And the night continued. I went inside, had desert and watched football. The Redskins were killing the Cowboys 28-3. And then we left.

Thanksgiving sacristy tale

First sacristy tale in two months! So I got there early, Father Michael was getting his chasuble ready. I looked at the calender on the wall that says what color to wear that day. The calender said red but I thought, nah. Let's just go with white. And it was the right color =). Fr. Raymond came in and Fr. Michael and I heard a lot of rustling near the back door. Fr. Michael walked back to open the door but Fr. Raymond was already going through the hallway. There was a lot of traffic on the way here," he said. "WHAT?!" How could there be a lot of traffic today?!" He was kidding. Then Deacon Jack came in and then Fr. Joe. Then I was surprised to see a girl about 14 walk in. At first I thought she was in the choir and had to get some music, but I saw her put an alb on and I was like what? I thought I was the only server. And then another girl about my age walked in. And Fr. Raymond said that I would be cross, and the two girls would be candles (sorry. Acolytes. They don't have candles). And I guess that's it.

All saints day.

Our home school group had an all saints day party at a nursing home. We all dressed up as saints and told everyone who our saint was in his own words. I was St. John Berchmans (Patron of altar boys, No offense girls!) And Paul was St. John Neumann (I don't know what he's the patron of). Here is a picture of me talking about St. John Berchmans.



Here is a picture of Paul talking about St. John Nuemann.

Here is a group photo.



I'd like to tell you where I am. But you can't really see me.
Look for me.

Here is a shot of me and Paul

Halloween night.

Last night we went Trick-or-treating with our friend Terry. I was Matt Wieters (O's catcher), Paul was Mike Miller (Miami Heat guard), and Terry was a ninja. Here are some pictures

Paul's jersey is home made. Mine is was a free gift from an O's game

So we started by going down to our dad's old friends' house as we do every year. We didn't do very well (thanks a lot hurricane Sandy!) on our block. But I think the best street we went on was the street behind our house. There was this one house where we waited and then a 14 year old kid answered the door with a bag of Twix. He tried to open it but it didn't open. So he said he would go get his mom. But he couldn't find his mom. And then in the end, he used scissors. Then we continued on. We got back to our street and Paul said "Why don't we stop at our own houses." We stopped at Terry's. It worked but when we got to our house, Mom said "come on in." And that's  how it ended.

BMI (Baltimore Museum of Industry)

Earlier this month, our homeschool group went to the Baltimore Museum of Industry. I forgot to bring the camera so I asked my friend if I could link to his blog. Here is the link:
http://martyluvsanimals.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-museum-of-industry.html. We got to make little paper cars, and build a "roller coaster" made of... I dunno what it was but it was pretty cool.

Rehoboth day 4.

This was our last day here. We left at 7 in the morning. The reason for our early departure: I take a Celtic-Roman history class at 9:45, Wednesday mornings. So I didn't get to go home with my family. But when I got home, I just felt like I had just gotten home for some random thing. It just felt like I hadn't been gone at all. Dat's dat!

Rehoboth day 3

Sorry this is so late. I was to busy to write it. Well anyway. Paul, Dad, and I went out for our usual morning walk. We didn't see the sun (again) so we went back to our hotel and got ready for mass. Then we went back to the hotel and had breakfast. When we went back up to our room, we expected the cleaning lady to be there, but the room was already cleaned up. Then Paul and I swam the rest of the morning. Then we went to a pizza place called Louie's and had lunch there. When our drinks were served, I riped open my straw holder and blew the cover off. There was an old man sitting in front of us having lunch. The straw cover hit him in the back, but he didn't seem to notice. lol. Then we went back to the hotel and Paul and I went back in the pool. Before we went to dinner, Dad had wanted to do this all vacation. Our balcony was on the front of the building over looking a street. And the "drive way" was right under us. So one of us dropped the ball and one guy below us caught it. Here's a video and pictures of what we did.



Paul. Position: Dropper.

Me. Position: Catcher.

                                                            Dad: 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... drop!

 

 

 

 

Me. Position: dropper.

Paul. Position: catcher

And I don't have a video for this one. The SD card ran out of room. Then we went to dinner at a place called Nicola's. And we got a seat next to a Cal Ripken Jr. autographed jersey.

 

 

Then we went back to the hotel. And went to bed. 

Rehoboth day 2

We didn't take a lot of pics at Rehoboth, but I'll put out the ones that we took.

We went down on the beach to watch the sunrise
and we found this weird looking sand sculpture.

 

 

                                      
                                         Ah! A glorious sunrise! To bad we didn't see any others =(.

Then we went to mass, came back to our hotel, had breakfast, then went upstairs to our room, and then we swam in the pool for the rest of the morning. Then we had lunch. And went out for another walk. Then we went back to our room, and Paul and Mom went swimming, I stayed behind. Then we went to dinner. Then we went home, and went to bed. While watching the O's game.

Rehoboth day 1

We got there Sunday afternoon, and then took a walk, then we went back to our room for a while. Then we had dinner at a restaurant. When we got back, Paul and I went swimming, but there was another family there and the kids were making a lot of noise, and it was driving me crazy. So I went back to our room. And stayed there for the rest of the night.

We're back!

My family just got back from Rehoboth Beach, DE. Pics soon to be posted!

Dressed for gameday

Leah is dressed for gameday

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last 9 A.M. mass

Today my parish had its last 9 A.M. mass and I was serving. When I got there Mr. George was leaving. And he said to me, "you're the MC today." (The MC is the head server--Master of ceremonies.) When he's there, Mr. George will be MC. This was the first time I was MC and it was so cool. My friend Sam showed up and called candle. Another sever was supposed to come, but Jake and his sister Laura came in at the last minute. So I would be cross 1, Laura would be cross 2, and Jake and Sam were candle bearers. During the offertory, We had re-setup the altar because the altar was set for Fr. Joe. And Fr. Nelson was the celebrant. Fr. Joe doesn't use a book stand for the Roman Missal, he just sets it down flat on the altar. And you know how some churches have crucifixes facing the priest on the altar. Well Fr. Joe doesn't do the crucifix. At the end of mass Fr. Nelson walked up to me and said, "If you still live in Baltimore 50 years from now, I want you to announce the the 50th anniversary of the 9A.M. mass to the congregation. It'll be like a 50th anniversary of the old 9 A.M. mass." When I got home, I sat down at the computer, and wrote down the names of who helped out at the last 9 A.M. mass. I 'd like to put it on this post, but Mom won't let me. Sorry =(

Who's on first re-make

Paul and I did the Who's on First? re-make on Wednesday. Here it is

                                          Our video is not like the one I put out earlier this month If you don't get here, follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0wAYHTNYJs

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Air & Space museum.

Yesterday we went to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Air & Space museum in Virgina. Here are some photos.

Navy/Marine helicopter. My dad was in the Navy.

The world trade centers, 9/11

Mom tells me this story all the time about 9/11. I was 1 year old when it happened, Mom and I were going to the grocery store, and Mom was listening to the radio, she heard that a plane headed for New York had been hi-jacked and flown into one of the world trade centers. Then we got to the grocery store, got some food, and got back into the car. The Radio was still on, and Mom had heard that the second world trade center had been attacked. And then later when we got home, we found out that a plane flew into the Pentagon And my Uncle was inside! But he survived.

Pieces of the world trade centers.

When my dad was in the Navy, he worked on a helicopter just like this. It's called a

Gyrodyne QH-5OC drone anti-submarine helicopter.

Anti-submarine means the torpedo. They launched the torpedo at submarines from above

The USS Discovery. Part of NASA's shuttle program
which re-used spaceships and return them to earth on a runway

                                        Has anybody seen Close encounters of the third kind?
                                         If so, remember the big spaceship at the end? This is the model of it

R2-D2?! Where did he come from?!

Artoo is also a mailbox

Anybody know what the Enola Gay is? This is the cockpit of the Enola Gay

This plane was in an Indiana Jones movie

Then we went up to the observation tower, where you could watch planes fly by

There's the museum. Looks like an airplane hanger

Hey people in there, I'm taking pictures of you!

Talent show 2

A couple weeks ago, Paul and I did a comedy routine called Who's On First? and I also did a piano performance. I don't have a video of it but Mom put all the videos she took in to one video. Here it is

and here is the piano piece I did.

In the mean time (while I still don't have the video) you can watch our inspiration

                                                                                         

Happy August.

This is going to be a great month! For me especially. My birthday is this month =)!

Hilarious video my mom found

Yesterday was the feast of St. James the greater and my mom saw this video where Pope Benedict said  mass on a pilgrimage in 2010 where St. James is buried. Here it is.

                                             
                                                                    Check out the crazy thurible

Evening mass

Last night, I served mass at a chapel with Fr. Ernest. Every month, this chapel has the TLM on Wednesdays. I asked Paul to come and help but he was at the O's game -rolling eyes-. Will was there but he was off-duty you could say, and he didn't have a cassock. The mass was supposed to be a Missa Cantata, but Matt couldn't come and there weren't any extra servers, so I was all by my self (unless Paul the Pinhead came!) it was my 2nd time serving alone, the first time, I messed up. Big time. But I did everything right this time. I was kneeling so still I thought I was a tree. Stay tuned

The Relic display.

Last night, Paul, Dad and I went to this relic display at another church. There were 168 relics. A lot of people were bringing these holy objects, such as rosaries or scapulars, to make into third class relics. But the weird thing was people were bringing pictures to the relics! That was weird. There was one cool thing, I was venerating one of the relics and this other lady was standing next to me was venerating the relic of St. Catherine of Sienna, I said to her "The old associate pastor at my parish loved St. Catherine of Sienna," and she said "St. Catherine of Sienna's feast day is on my birthday." I said "This saint's (the relic I was venerating)  feast day is on my birthday too." Below is a list of the saints' relics

1

Agnes 61 Jane Frances de Chantal 121 Peter Claver

2

Aloysius Gonzaga 62 Januarius 122 Peter, Apostle

3

Alphonsis Liguiori 63 Jean Brébeuf 123 Philip, Apostle

4

André of Montreal, Brother 64 Jean-Théophane Vénard 124 Philomena

5

Andrew, Apostle 65 John Baptist de la Salle 125 Pier Giorgio Frassati (Bl.)

6

Angela Foligno (Bl.) 66 John Berchmans 126 Pius IX (Pope) (Bl.)

7

Anna Maria Taigi (Bl.) 67 John Gabriel Perboyre 127 Pius V (Pope)

8

Anne, Mother of the BVM 68 John Neumann 128 Pius X (Pope)

9

Anthony Padua 69 John of Matha 129 Polycarp

10

Anthony the Abbott 70 John of the Cross 130 Rose of Lima

11

Apollonia 71 John the Baptist 131 Rita of Cascia

12

Athanasius 72 John Vianney (Cure D'ars) 132 Simon the Apostle

13

Augustine 73 John XXIII (Pope) (Bl.) 133 Stanislaus Kostka

14

Benedict 74 John, Apostle 134 Stanislaus Papczyński (Bl.)

15

Bartholomew, Apostle 75 Josaphata Hordashevska (Bl.) 135 Stephen, King of Hungary

16

Bartolo Longo (Bl.) 76 Josemaria Escriva 136 Tarsykia Matskiv (Bl.)

17

Bernadette 77 Joseph Cupertino 137 Teresa of Avila

18

Bernard of Clairvaux 78 Joseph, Spouse of the Virgin Mary 138 Teresa of the Andes

19

Blaise 79 Josephat 139 Teresa of Calcutta, Mother (Bl.)

20

Catherine Labouré 80 Josephine Bakita 140 Thérèse of Lisieux

21

Catherine of Siena 81 Jude, Apostle 141 Thomas a Beckett

22

Cecilia 82 Justin Martyr 142 Thomas Aquinas

23

Charbel Makhlouf 83 Kateri Tekakwitha 143 Thomas More

24

Charles Borromeo 84 Lawrence 144 Thomas, Apostle

25

Charles Garnier 85 Leo the Great (Pope) 145 True Cross, Fragments of the

26

Charles Lwanga 86 Longinus 146 Unknown Bishop and Martyr

27

Clare of Assisi 87 Louis de Montfort 147 Valentin Faustino Berri Ochoa

28

Claude de la Columbière 88 Louis Martin (Bl.) (Father of St. Thérèse) 148 Veronica Giuliani

29

Conrad of Parzam 89 Lucy 149 Vincent de Paul

30

Contardo Ferrini (Bl.) 90 Luke, Evangelist 150 Vincent Strambi

31

Cosmas 91 Malachy 151 Wenceslas

32

Crib of Our Lord 92 Margaret Mary Alacoque 152 Zélie Guerin (Bl.) (Mother St. Thérèse)

33

Damian 93 Margaret of Cortona 153 Zeno the Tribune

34

Dismas 94 Margaret of Scotland

35

36

Dominic 95 Marguerite Bourgeoys The 11 Martyrs of Novogrudok:Dominic Savio 96 Maria Goretti 154 Maria Stella (Bl.)

37

Dymphna 97 Mark, Evangelist 155 Anna Kukulowicz (Bl.)

38

Edith Stein 98 Martha 156 Eleanor Juzwik (Bl.)

39

Elizabeth Ann Seton 99 Martin de Porres 157 Eugenia Mackiewicz (Bl.)

40

Euprasia 100 Martyrs of Gorkum 158 Helena Cierpka (Bl.)

41

Faustina Kowalska 101 Mary Magdalene 159 Jadwiga Zak (Bl.)

42

Francis de Sales 102 Mary of Jesus Crucified 160 Jozefa Chrobot (Bl.)

43

Francis of Assisi 103 Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd (Bl.) 161 Julia Rapieg (Bl.)

44

Francis Xavier 104 Mary, Mother of God (portion of her Veil) 162 Leokadia Matustzewska (Bl.)

45

Francis Xavier Cabrini 105 Matthew, Apostle & Evangelist 163 Paulina Borowik (Bl.)

46

Francis Xavier de Seelos (Bl.) 106 Matthias, Apostle 164 Veronika Narmuntowicz (Bl.)

47

Gabriel Lalement 107 Maurice the Legionary

48

Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother 108 Maximilian Kolbe

49

Gemma Galgani 109 Melchor García Sampedro

50

Gerard Majella 110 Michael J. McGivney (Servant of God)

51

Gertrude the Great 111 Monica

52

Helen (Mother of Constantine) 112 Nicholas of Myra (i.e., Santa Claus)

53

Holy Crown of Thorns, Fragment of the 113 Oliver Plunket

54

Holy Lance, Fragment of the 114 Padre Pio

55

Ignatius Loyola 115 Patrick

56

Ignatius of Antioch 116 Paul Miki

57

Irenaeus 117 Paul of the Cross

58

59

James Kern 118 Paul, Apostle LEGEND:James the Great, Apostle 119 Peregrine Bl. = Blessed (i.e., not yet canonized)

60

When I was venerating the relics, I picked them up and put it on my shoulder and prayed please let my arm get stronger and I think it worked, I went outside threw a dozen Footballs and I got Paul to see how fast it was. 32. When Dad gets home from work I'll ask him to measure it. Look for it right here, Sports Nexus! 

James the Less, Apostle 120 Peter Chrysologus\