Easter Is A Season

We just love our liturgical seasons, don't we? Some of us who are super behind on photos that felt like they were cute like say, two weeks ago, still feel the need to post. But heck, we've got our liturgical seasons and it's still EASTER. Catholic seasons for the score!

Truthfully, I don't even know if anyone cares or wants to see the billionth post with photos of my kids...move on if not. In case you do, I'm wrapping up our Easter weekend that followed the Seven Churches Visitation from Holy Thursday.


Good Friday was a bit more quiet, somber and at home, besides going to Good Friday service. We did make pretzels again, which were delicious. Perhaps too much so for Good Friday?

Holy Saturday it was a bit chilly, but we still had our annual family Easter egg hunt with some of Reed's family. Another successful one that resulted in sweet treats and many smiles.

In the afternoon we did some baking and food preparations for Easter Sunday at our house. This year I didn't forget and the big kids helped make the Empty Tomb Rolls. Last year I forgot, all Easter season long, and had some disappointed kids. Mom fail. It's funny how they remember seemingly 'small' things that are a really big deal to kids. Interestingly enough, I find that a lot of those things are food related. That's SO my family!

Speaking of, my grandma used to make and create so many homemade goodies when I was a kid. Since her passing, I find myself longing to keep those tradition and recreating her recipes. I hope to keep on recalling those special moments and holidays where she poured so much love into creating a feast for her family. Slowly, I am trying to continue on with those things for my kids.

One of her goodies was a soft molasses cut out cookie with a marshmallow pastel colored frosting at Easter. It might sound funny, but even recreating it so that it's the same shape (a simple rectangle cut out from a Spam or coffee creamer tin) is essential to complete the memory. It's just one of those things. The recipe for these cookies is in my recipe box and handwritten by my grandma the Easter after I was married. I've used the recipe each year for Christmas molasses cut outs, but this was only the second time making them for Easter. Thankfully, Reed was willing to help out so the frosting, which is a little tricky, could be made just right.

They were perfect and left my family asking for them sometime again soon.

Following a (seemingly) sometimes long-ish Lent, good eats and treats taste even better. 

Easter morning came with early risers prepared for the Easter basket hunt. As always, this has to be done quickly before dressing up and heading to morning Mass. Mission accomplished and happy morning bed-head kiddos.

For posterity....the four kids after Mass in their Easter finery.

The whole crew. No matchy-matchy like some of you amazingly talented fashionista moms, but something that worked just right for each of us. Hello, maxi dress that works with pregnant belly (For now).

How's that for an Easter wrap? 

I've enjoyed seeing all of you in your Easter pastels and reading your springy posts. 

Keep on celebrating the season and enjoy the sunshine whenever it comes your way.

What We Did Wednesday

There's nothing quite like scrambling to make a feast day special only to find that God had already laid the groundwork far in advance. 

Like when you wake up on the Annunciation, which also happens to be your husband's birthday.

I scrounge in the freezer and come across a box of frozen pastries we purchased from a school fundraiser.

Heck, sure, let's celebrate with those! Wait, what's that? These happen to be BLUEberry flavor. How preordained, since we always declare a BLUE day at our house when it's a Marian feast day. 

Let's be productive and grab a toddler to help whip up a cake this morning. Daddy's choice was a (boxed) Angel Food Cake. What's that? The ANGEL Gabriel appeared to Mary and it's called the Annunciation. 

TODAY's feast day. Interesting. 

Daddy decided to stay home with us today and take a vacation day from work. Which, if you are around here ever, you'd know that actually going to work is more of a vacation. None the less, he accomplished some more work in the basement bathroom. We tried to leave him alone as much as possible. Some of us doing better than others. I think he's like a magnet for the little girls when they know he's around. I don't blame them.

School time found the girls coloring Annunciation coloring pages. Gianna is suddenly a superstar colorist or whatever you call someone who colors. 

We also took the time to play a game and put together some puzzles.

Someone showing off her rather brightly colored Annunciation. 

Before lunch we got the cake frosted. Take about 8 oz Cool Whip and some thawed strawberry juice and mix together. Frost the Angel Food cake with the fluffy 'frosting' and put it in the freezer. 

Serve later with the thawed (and slightly sweetened) strawberries on top. A nice spring time cake and light enough to celebrate, but also remain Lenten. 

For lunch, God again inspired me when I read it was Waffle Day in Sweden today for "Our Lady's Day." Serve with BLUEberries and again, how can you go wrong?

Smile along with your kiddos who are looking especially ANGELic for your birthday shot. 

Lastly, grab a photo shoot with your lovely and the baby belly. 

We totally had this feast day and birthday down.

Even if I didn't have them all perfectly planned at 5:30 this morning. By this evening, we looked back with fondness on a great day to celebrate both Mary and our favorite Man of the House. 

February Fun

It's that time of year again when we are just about ready to scream, put up the white surrender flag and give in to the winter blahs. The calendar tells us it's February and if you're a homeschool mom you know exactly how many days of school are left (ahem, that would be 74 for us).

Thankfully, this winter has been bearable. Besides that, God knew what He was doing when he blessed and surprised us with two sweethearts born this month. Just the idea of having two birthdays to celebrate, however low key and simplified we do them, they are still celebrations to look forward to. They are two very wonderful reasons to get my act together, stay on task with birthday planning/gift buying, and the days swirl by at rapid speed.

Last week we celebrated birthday #1 and enjoyed pink velvet cupcakes with buttercream frosting, decorated with candy Olafs and snowflakes (thank you, clearance aisle). They were a hit!

So were her dress up clothes she received as a birthday gift from us. It seemed odd that she was even more excited over the Firefighter dress up clothes than the Elsa dress. 

She was one happy three year old, content with yummy cupcakes and gifts on her birthday day. 

This past weekend fell smack dab between the girls' birthdays and we celebrated their birthdays with a few family members. 

You better bet there was a Frozen cake!

I went with store bought and had them keep it decorated minimally with just snowflakes/sprinkles. I had found a set of Frozen character toys online that I thought would serve well as cake toppers and toys afterward.  Always thinking I am. 

They worked and the girls were happy to find out that they could play with them later. 

Don't even ask why they are on the counter posing with the cake. They insisted on it. 

Odd angle much?

These crazy girls, my Irish twins. They certainly are hard to capture lately with smiles and looking at mom with the camera. 

Silly Sisterly Love.

You know us, we'll celebrate at least one more time next week on Gianna's birthday day too. 

It falls on Mardi Gras this year, so there's sure to be more cupcakes and other treats to consume before Ash Wednesday.

In the meantime, this week is all about planning for Friday and Saturday.  Besides setting up/decorating and some cooking for our parish Winter Carnival, we're heading to our homeschool group Valentine's Day sledding party get together on Friday. 

Speaking of, are you looking for printable Frozen Valentines?

There are cute FREE ones over here.

How about Minecraft Valentines?

Scroll down to find them over here.

Saturday you'll find us at our church stirring the chili, snacking on munchies, playing games, hitting the pinata, having Mass with the Bishop, consuming the chili and watching Big Hero 6. 

We're celebrating Big before Lent hits next week.

What are your plans this week? Are you preparing for Lent? 

Let me know since I'm going to need a little help getting around to all that preparing. 

This Girl: She's Three Today

 This Girl. She's my Groundhog Day or my Feast of the Presentation baby.

Whichever I call her, she's one of my most favorite surprises. 

And she knows it.

This Girl. Is one of the sweetest, most hilarious little girls. 

Except when she isn't. And she gets a little grumpy.

This Girl. Will melt your heart with that girly voice, those eyelashes and her big hugs.

Except when she shrieks at the top of her lungs, makes your heart jump out of your chest and scares you half to death. Every day.

This Girl. She's crazy and silly, but can she can also be sensitive. 

She likes to tag along with her siblings, tries to be included in most everything we're doing and doesn't like to be left out. 

This Girl. Loves Olaf and in a way her sweetness and fun nature kind of make her our own little Olaf.

And so she'll get cupcakes with Olaf on them today to celebrate. 

This Girl. Had me at Hello, just like all the others.

Three years in and she certainly remains my gem. 

Happy Birthday to my Margaret Anne!

For two weeks I'll be the mom of "twins" once again with two three year olds in my household. 

It's kind of fun to say that each year. It makes me chuckle at what mighty plans God has that He delivers in the form of a baby, even when you least expect them. 

Weekend Scenes {Autumn}

 

While we're gearing up for 60 and 70 degree days this week, last week we felt the autumn chill. The crisp air, the cooler mornings, the return to school and the dwindling garden are reminders that fall has arrived.


Our weekend was one of embracing the season, family time and celebrating. Just the way we like it.

Friday evening we went to a Fall Kickoff event with the (new) homeschool group we joined mid-year last year. We attended one or two group events last spring, but not much. The kids have had some interactions with some members of the group as there is some overlap in the members also being in the same 4H group they are in. We planned that intentionally when we joined.

I must say here that Friday evening was a blessing and what I needed. I was quite apprehensive prior to the event on Friday. I just didn't know how I'd/we'd fit in, if it was going to be like our past group and how/if we'd find a new home in this group. We all agreed as we drove home that night that it had been a good time. Each one of us felt welcomed, invited, wanted. From the moment we stepped out of our vehicle, in the line waiting for food, running around in the yard, or just sitting around with the moms, we were introduced, people talked to us and they made us feel needed there. If you have ever been in a group (not just a homeschooling one) that has been less than friendly and you'e struggled to fit in, you know where I'm coming from.

With that, again I'll say that Friday evening was the perfect way to start our very nice weekend.

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On Saturday we had plans to have my parents over as a pre-birthday celebration for Lily. Her birthday isn't until next Sunday, but we'll be busy Saturday and heading out of town on her birthday.

The biggest plan on the agenda was a huge right of passage, if you will. Lily was going to get her ears pierced. *yikes* She'd been talking and asking about it for months and we kept pushing it off. During the summer we decided that we'd move up the age limit we once talked about (13) and consider them when she was 12. Being that we'll be leaving to go out of town, we moved it up to this past weekend so it fit our plans better.

Just as I went to get mine pierced (I think I was 13) with my maternal grandma, Lily wanted my mom to join us for the big event.

She handled it really well and hardly flinched. I was pretty concerned since Lily isn't real pain tolerant. She was a tough cookie. She looked pretty nervous as the lady was getting everything ready and she was acting like she was fine. Being her mom though, I knew that the almost constant jiber-jabber from my girl was her way of keeping her mind off of what was about to happen.

Afterward she said it wasn't that bad and she survived. Hooray!

Once we heading back home, we enjoyed homemade pizza with my parents for supper. Lily's choice instead of cake (she doesn't like frosting) was homemade apple pie. Hubby was kind enough to clear his afternoon to whip up the pizza and the apple pie. Delicious.

As always, a visit with Papa and Grams always puts smiles on our faces. It was a very good day and a very special day. Man, I cannot believe Lily is almost TWELVE. I feel old now.

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Sunday we declared family hiking day and headed out just after Mass and brunch. We drove close to 40 minutes away to Inspiration Peak, the highest point in Minnesota. It's a beautiful view at the top and a woodsy journey up there.

At the top, you can see for miles. My camera just can't do it justice. In another week or two the fall colors would be just glorious to view from the peak.

The kids enjoy the downhill descent, but little ones need a hand to hold on to with it being so steep.

Our next stop was a State Park about 20 minutes away. Even making the miles to trek there is beautiful this time of year. Taking in the scenery and all your eyes can survey when your heart is being grateful, really takes your breath away.

We had been to this particular State Park last fall with friends and our kids had a blast. We knew we needed to get there again this year. We hit the wooded trails and probably meandered through at least a couple miles worth of bountiful trees with acorns popping beneath our feet as we made each step.

The autumn air wasn't too chilly and the sunlight peaking through the trees above made for the perfect fall scene.

And photos.

The crew, giving into mom's need for lots of photos to remember our day together. 

All smiles as we finish out the weekend.

I hope your autumn weekend was a wonderful one, wherever you are in the autumn spectrum.

Tonight I sip on pumpkin spice cappuccino while huddled on the couch in my fuzzy robe. 

Tomorrow we hit the books again and plan ahead for some time away and more birthday celebrating next week. 

Fathers {Late Edition}

Two days later, but I'm still thinking about Father's Day. I thought throwing out a few photos from our day would be a nice little entry. When I looked back at the photos, I again found sufficiency in the simplicity. 

A day to honor dad and husband. A day to just do what they want to do.

Our original plans for a picnic lunch at a park with my dad (my mom had to work over the weekend) had to be changed due to more rain. Instead I served up lovin' in the form of breakfast at my dining room table.

Then we pretty much just hung out and spent time enjoying. Reed went for a bike ride with the big kids in the afternoon and I visited with dad while the girls napped.

Later in the afternoon after dad headed home, we spent time with Reed's dad and mom.

Our Father's Day came to a close with an indoor picnic supper. We figured since we missed out earlier in the day and it was still too wet outdoors, we'd still celebrate indoors.

At the end of the day, dads were honored and loved, our bellies and our hearts were full.

I believe that's the measure of a very good day and Reed felt just the same.

Simplicity In Celebrating: Mother's Day

Sometimes lack of plans (expectations)  =  simple gratitude and a peaceful heart.

Have you found that to be true too? Again, I did this Mother's Day weekend. A couple years ago I wrote about my high expectations and I vowed not to do that again. Thankfully, I may have found my sweet spot for Mother's Day weekend after keeping it simple last year and again this year.

We kicked off the weekend with Field Trip Friday with the kids. I hope I can get around to write about that another day. 

Saturday morning started sunny and bright with plans to meet my mom for coffee. I invited any of the kids that wanted to join us to come along.

Of course, they all did.

That was just fine too. A cup of coffee, smoothies, muffins and time with Mom/Grandma are always a nice treat.

'Cuz my mom is pretty awesome, as I've said before. 

As my Gianna now says to me, "Mom, you're the bomb." So is my mom.

Afterward, we headed home to take care of some odds and ends around the yard. We also had a visitor, our favorite seminarian came out for a few hours to hang out. ALWAYS a bright spot to the day for my kids when he stops over.

We also opted for going to Saturday evening Mass not so I could sleep in on Mother's Day, but just not be rushed for one Sunday morning out of the year. I know, it's the little things.

This morning I woke up bright and early as always, but couldn't get back to sleep. I hung out in my jammies for a while and then decided to use my time wisely to workout. I hopped on the treadmill and tried my newest app, Running Interval Timer, pounded out just under 3 miles in 1/2 hr and called it good. 

Considering I hadn't even had a cup of coffee in my veins yet, that was a good workout. It seemed to set me on the right path to head into my day.

The kids and Reed made a delicious breakfast, as always. Again we went for Patty's stuffed french toast recipe (can't go wrong there), bacon and eggs.

The rest of the day was filled with rest, peace, bliss, with lots of time with my kids and husband. 

And kisses. 

My kids got me a Mary garden statue I stumbled upon a couple weeks ago online. If you knew how I've been looking forever for the "perfect" statue, this was a most welcome gift. I was kind of picky all this time, didn't want Mary too big or too small, she needed to have features, not the classic garden Mary statue, I preferred her to hold baby Jesus, etc, etc. 

So I was beyond thrilled when I found this statue here and highly demanded suggested it for Mother's Day.

She's perfect. 

While plain now in my barren garden, she will be adorned with so many blooming flowers this summer. I can't wait to officially have a Mary Garden in my yard after all this time of waiting.

As the afternoon wound down, one of my favorite plans of the day came to fruition. 

You see, Patty and I had devised a plan to take our friendship to the next level. The level that is beyond the typing/commenting/texting kind and on to the see-inside-my-crazy-life-in-real-time-and-hear-my-voice next step. I was so giddy!! My kids were excited to see her kids and hear their voices as well.

I almost put on lipstick for you, Patty. lol. 

We got ourselves all techie and gave Skype a whirl. It's an amazing thing when there is no distance when you see those faces on the screen. As if the miles between Minnesota and Texas are not so many at all.  And yes, she is just as sweet and amazing in person as she appears when she writes. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Patty. It totally made my Mother's Day to finally 'meet' my sweet TX friend.

The afternoon finished with roasted hot dogs and cake at my in laws, just down the driveway. Some time of visiting with family and just hanging out by the picnic table.

As the day closes I'm ready to put up my feet and rest a bit while I write all of these wonderful memories on my Mother's heart.

It was a good day. I hope you all had a very memorable one too.