Super Jennifer’s Mother’s Day

mday3Yesterday for Mother’s Day Jennifer broke out the old cape and super-hero shirt she wore in the fourth episode of That Catholic Show called Charity and Mercy.

You can watch that episode (and even buy a DVD!) over here.

Why break out the super-hero shirt?

Because she does a super-hero’s job every day raising five kids and we wanted to get some good Mother’s Day photos to mark the event, especially since this is her first Mother’s Day with FIVE kids, one of whom just happens to be a daughter.

Below are all the photos from the shoot in our backyard.

Enjoy!

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The Boys Smell Like Worms

It’s raining outside and the boys go wild.

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Sunday Outside

The trees we planted back in November truly. Have transformed our backyard. We moved a bunch of chairs to one of the dependable spots of shade and we’ve been wasting away the afternoon just hanging out in the backyard. It’s taken us 10 years to finally get to do this.

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5-Year-Old

Tommy turned 5 on Friday. Apparently we’ve started a new tradition of taking the birthday kid out for breakfast. Tommy wanted Waffle House.

Later on we did the obligatory cake thing and also had a special visit with Fr. Bill Kessler who was passing through town on the way home from Disney World.

Overall, Tommy had a good birthday. Happy Birthday, T-Bone Steak!

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Kissing the Face of God

Every once in a while we get a surprise package in the mail and we’re not quite sure where it came from or who sent it.

Today during the program, FedEx showed up delivering a big ol’ box.

During a break I rushed down and got it, and during the next break I opened it up.

Inside was one of the most beautiful paintings we’ve seen. Whoever sent this – thanks!

It’s called “Kissing the Face of God” and was sent from “Lord’s Art” in New York.

Here’s a link, and below is a clearer photo of the painting from their website.

kissingface

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Sick Bay

Jennifer and I are both fighting head colds while also hosting the show. Here is what it looks like in the infirmary/studio.

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Four Tonsils

Yesterday we all got a very early start to the day as we had to have both Ben (who will be 7 in just a couple weeks) and Tom (who will be 5 in just a couple weeks) to the hospital by 6:45.

After dealing with strep throat in our house time and time again, they were both going to have their tonsils taken out.  After Walter had his tonsils removed last fall, both he and Sam seemed to have broken the cycle.  But Ben and Tom continued to have problems.

So the doctor recommended we get rid of them.

The tonsils, that is.  Not Ben and Tom.

To the left are the boys as we wait to be called back to the pre-op and recovery rooms.

Below are the last photos of their mouths before their tonsils were yanked out.

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Easter Lily

easterlilyThis morning we got an early start to the day as we headed out for Mass with the entire family, and our own Easter Lily got dressed up in her finest dress. Got to tell you, it’s still weird having a kid that wears dresses! But she already is turning heads, that’s for sure.

So here’s praying for a very happy and blessed Easter to all of our friends, family, and listeners of The Catholics Next Door!

What a wonderful Lent it was, and we’re so glad that we had the opportunity to share so many experiences with so many wonderful people throughout Lent.

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Interview with the Easter Bunny

Easter BunnyYesterday on The Catholics Next Door we had the excellent honor of interviewing the one and only Easter Bunny.

For your viewing pleasure, we set up remote video broadcasting to capture this very special moment. We hope you enjoy this video interview with Mr. Easter Bunny.

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Jennifer’s After-Baby Haircut

Jennifer Hair 1So…Jennifer got a haircut this weekend. She had six inches slashed off. Here are a couple of photos of the final product.

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Willits Family Circa 2004 (VIDEO)

Sam making a faceI came across some old videos we’d made years ago and this one, in particular, has always been one of our favorites.
Basically, it’s just a montage of different clips from the year Tommy was born.
Sam losing his first tooth. Walt with a broken leg.
Lots of early memories all blended together using a soundtrack by Colin Hay from Men at Work. Enjoy!

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Lullabies for Lily

Lullabyes for LilyA couple weeks ago our friend Dan Harms from the band Popple was here for a visit.

While he was here we were goofing around, playing some songs on the piano and guitar. Near the end of the night I picked up Dan’s guitar and was amazed at how easy it was to play his compared to the guitar I typically play.

The guitar I play is actually one Jennifer bought long before we even met, but she never uses. So when we got married, it pretty much became my main guitar. It’s a very nice guitar, but after playing Dan’s, I realized I could probably have some work done on it to make it even easier to play and better sounding to boot. So last weekend, I dropped off the guitar at a local music store and ever since picking it up on Monday, I’ve been playing the guitar quite a bit again.

The cool thing is that we’ve also discovered Lily has an instant reaction to the guitar. In fact, just about every time I’ve started playing when she was fussy, she’d stop crying almost immediately.

So last night when she was getting particularly fussy, I went and got the guitar and Jennifer, Lily, and I ended up recording a couple of videos as we serenaded our little girl.

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