Fall Flew By...Here's a Flurry of Photos :)

Happy Fall Y'all!  (Oh wait...it's actually winter...oh wait, it's actually 2022!).  Oh well, I'm behind schedule again, but I'm still persevering at getting these photos on my blog for posterity sake---even if they are late!  :) 

Our Fall was full of blessings and it sure flew by!  We had the start of school.  Dominic started a new school at Jefferson High School in Boulder.  The little boys are at Montana City School for the 2nd year in a row and THEY LOVE IT!  It is such a great feeling in this momma's heart every morning when the kids are happy and excited to go to school.  I am not a big believer in public school (I know it my heart that Catholic School or homeschooling are usually better options), but so far it has been a good experience for us so far and I feel this is where are kids are supposed to be (for now anyway).  We will just keep taking one year at a time, continually asking the Holy Spirit to guide us.

Another big Fall highlight was Isaiah being trained as an altar server.  He is our youngest, and after having watched all 5 of my boys be trained to serve at the Lord's holy altar, I must say that it is one of the most precious memories in my heart that I will treasure of each of my holy sons who love the Lord.  Some of my sons like serving more than others...and I must say that I think Isaiah seems to like it most of all.  He is so proud to be serving, wants to serve every weekend, and totally takes the job seriously.  So precious!

Another big Autumn event was Dominic's first year in high school cross country.  He made the VARSITY team as a FRESHMAN!!!  At almost every meet he improved his personal best time, and he got his very best time at the State Championships with a great time of 18:30---that's basically a 6 minute mile averaged over 3.1 miles total!)  He had an awesome coach (such a positive, Christian guy who taught the kids to have fun while working hard at the same time), and he met some great friends (which was such a blessing since he didn't really know any kids at JHS as a new coming Freshman).  We are so proud of him and are so happy that he loves running so much!  I guess he is taking after my older brothers who are marathon runners :)

Here is Coach Karson with the team at the State tournament

And, of course, we had our big All Saints Day Party on Halloween.  This year we had 4 other families join us, so that made things extra fun!  It was very cold outside, but we were able to do a couple of games outdoors before coming inside for the rest of the festivities.  Dominic chose to be St. Hubert the hunter, Nathanael was St. Pope JPII, and Isaiah was St. Sebastian.  They made Saint-O-Lanterns based on the saints they chose to be, and I think they turned out quite well this year.  We really love this tradition, and so far they have never seemed disappointed about not participating in trick-or-treating.  The always get plenty of treats by the end of the evening, and good wholesome fun with other Catholic families.

Paul: St. Pier Giorgio Frassati

Maria:  St. Grimonia (Irish hermitess)

Dominic:  St. Hubert

Nathanael:  St. JPII

Isaiah: St. Sebastian

The Cronk family kids all dressed as saints

The kids playing a St. Patrick relay race game, 

trying to get all the snakes out of Ireland the fastest!

Our St. Sebastian Aim for Heaven Game

(kids are supposed to aim for the "heaven target" NOT for St. Sebastian :)

This is the "Ping Pong Purgatory Game" :)

The goal is to bounce a ping pong ball into the white "heaven" cup (filled with candy),

or at least the green "purgatory" cups (1 piece of candy), 

and to avoid the red "hell" cups (no candy).

Nathanael playing "Toss the Halo on the Saint"

The youngest Cronk kid hitting the pinata :)

CANDY TIME!!!

Happy Feast of All Hallow's Eve!

And last but not least, we celebrated Nathanael's 11th birthday this Fall.  He wanted to invite his best friends over to play football, spike ball, and some crazy indoor games.  They had a blast, and I am so happy God has blessed him with such great friends at his new school!

Happy Birthday Nate the Great!

This year you somehow became "Nate."

You will always be Nathanael to me though :)

Even though you changed your name,

I hope you never change being YOU...

You are holy, kind, crazy-smart, athletic, and competitive;

You are helpful at home, very loved, and a great friend!

You are double-sticks (11 years old!)

and I hope God blesses you DOUBLE this year!

I love you more than all the baseball cards you own,

plus more than all the cards you wish you had!

Love,

Mom