Beach Day

Temptation

Thank God very much because he allows temptations... and because you keep fighting. St Jose Marie, The Way of the Cross.

St. Anne and St Joseph created by the Dooley Family

Really think about life without temptation. Would it be perfect or would it be disastrous. It seems that it would take away our free will. If we were never to be tempted we would we always do the right thing. That would make us robots. Thank God we have temptation and we can us them to get others to heaven or just to help them with their everyday struggles. Not giving in to our temptations brings us closer to Christ. What about those temptations we struggle with and sometimes do give into? Those temptations bring us closer to Christ as long as we continue to fight the temptations and offer them for ourselves and others. Keep up the fight!!!

Family Photo and Blog Rename

We have been trying to figure out what our family blog name is going to be. We asked many of our friends and we actually got many suggestions and votes.

The winning vote went to de Niall File but we decide to go with a suggestion that was not given……..

Drum Roll Please………………………………..

Okay so if you haven't guessed the name by our new lay out it is "de Niall Isle." We think it feels like our family. de Niall Isle is the Niall family Island which is where I feel we are often. Our family off on a crazy island somewhere. Plus it mixes our French and Irish family blend together. Thanks Lindsay!

Two other really good names given to to us by Lindsay we could help but sharing were "Don't Rile Mrs. Niall that's Vile" and "de Niall Futile Laundry Pile." Some other fun names "Life in de Niall," "de Niall isn't Just a River,"and "de Niall on Trial." Thanks for everyone who had fun figuring out a blog name with us!

On our family retreat we went to Hampton Beach and tried to get a family picture. None of them are great they go well with Crazy Monday pictures. Enjoy your laugh!!

Little Cottage Visit

de Niall family hasn't visited the Little Sister of St Francis on the Holy Hill in a long time but boy did we miss them. The cottage is a great retreat from home and helps to rest our family. It is a great get away for a weekend or a week. de Niall's have enjoyed both.

Why are the Little Sister's cottages a nice place to visit, I could give a million reasons but I stop at ten.

1. We really want our children to be exposed to religious especially religious who love children. On this trip two of the sisters were home (one was on retreat) they both lovingly engaged our children in different ways. Sr. Deborah just kissed James after he was naughty at mass. Sr. Elizabeth Anne had a conversation with the children while they were outside playing.

2. The cottages have everything our family needs to survive.

(Daddy working in the kitchen)

3. A family retreat is good for the family. Just getting out of our house for a few days is wonderful for the soul! And a small break for everyone!!

4. Adoration on Fridays!!

(Chapel is in the basement of the Sister's house.)

5. The sisters invite their guests to join them in all their prayers and have a chapel on site - Eucharistic Adoration and Liturgy of the Hours.

6. The grounds are the have the Stations of the Cross outside, statues all over, and a great trail to hike (or run if you are daddy).

7. It is quit (as quit as you can get with three children) but a better description peaceful.

8. The sisters are easy to talk with and love to let you about their order, things to do in the area and other interesting topics.

9. Time away from work for Daddy!

10. Their yard is a safe place for little children to play.

Bonus reason I couldn't just stop

11. The sisters only a free offering so some years we can pay more and some years we can pay less but we never feel like they are excepting X amount from us so when we are not able to afford a vacation we are still able to get away.

Our cottage was Mary's house but they also have Martha House and Divine Mercy House and St. Joseph's hall connects the theee house.

These are some of the room in Mary House.

Ties, Sunday Ties

My little man loves to wear ties to mass.

He is a handsome little charmer. He insisted on putting on a tie.

So irresistibly cute I couldn't stop taking pictures.

But it really didn't last very long before the tie came off.

Fish Face!!

In Our Yard

We came home to this beautiful site after mass last Sunday morning.

Perched in a tree in our drive way!

Looking right at me as I snap pictures and the rest of the family just admire the hawk.

Just amazing

We were so in Awe!!

Showing off

The next morning when we woke up to see these turkey's in our yard.

The pictures aren't as clear but they are Turkeys. Do we live in a good size town or the boonies. Ask my Friend Tara and we will say the boonies.

Updating Blog

Excuse our appearance we are working on updating our blog. While we are updating our blog we are trying to find a fun name. we have decided that de Niall would be the first two words but we are looking for and ending. HELP!!!

de Niall Style

de Niall Profile

de Niall lifeStyle

de Niall File

Update: de Niall Isle

de Niall Isle File

any other thoughts?

We were also thinking of something to go with Cuddle Bear but really could not find anything that would rhyme or anything really fun. Also what do you think about the background? Thanks you all for you help!!

In Real Life

I attended this really awesome conference last weekend. I really didn't know what I was attending but I know that one of the mean speakers was Danielle Bean a funny Catholic Homeschooling Mom of eight. I didn't even really know what the conference was about all I knew was the Faith and Family was hosting it and it was called Mom's Day Away. Really could I miss a Mother's Day Away with one of my favorite Catholic author's, NO!!

I turned out that this was a conference with many Catholic bloggers meeting in real life (INL). A lot of these bloggers write for Faith and Family on-line. I am a blogger but I really only blog about my family. I'm not really sure why I blog at all except it is my outlet and fun for me. I actually met a blogger from one of my favorite Catholic Crafts site Catholic Icing.

Me, Lacey from Catholic Icing, and Danielle Bean Danielle was the first speaker and her talk was "One Yes at a time." She told a really funny story about saying yes to God with packing peanuts. Hysterical!!

Cioci Anne with Baby Thomas

Children at the conference and their presence was great Darcy took more picture and posted them here.

Rachel Balducci of Testosterhome was another speaker. She talk was my favorite it was on "You too can be a Saint."

Father Chip gave a short talk on adoration and confession.

Jennifer Fulwiler of Conversion Diary was the second speaker on "Letting Go of Fear."

Yes, I got a lot out of this conference but one of the first thing said by Pat Gohn was: what is the one thing we are going to take away from this conference? The one thing I took home from this conference was women really need to have friends that you can confide. I already knew this but let me tell you it sure does feel good to hear this from others. The second thing I learned was "Do Not Compare Yourself To Others." I repeat this to myself at least once a day. This was a great day for a Mama who really didn't know what she was going to be attending.

It was also nice to visit it with good friend, Anne Dooley and meet up with other friends from our homeschool group.

Crazy Silly

We call it crazy hair

This was a really crazy hair day and Adriana was acting crazy right along with her hair!!

James had to be in the picture loving on his big sister!

Are We Moms Invisible?

Amazingly we are not invisible to God!! Let's be good wives and mothers being invisible to others but knowing God sees our every effort!