3 months old

I can't believe I doubted whether or not God knew what he was doing when He sent us this sweet treasure! I love you Blaise Augustine!

Stations of the Cross

Our parish does the Stations of the Cross every Friday during Lent. Unfortunately, its at 7:30 pm, and its just too late to take the kids. I found this version here for the kids to color. Well, neither one was too excited, so I ended up coloring one page. My BEAUTIFUL work is just below! Having been trying to expose the kids to more traditions of Lent, I knew this was one they could do. I plan to laminate them and post them around the house to "walk" the Stations with Max and Bella on Fridays before bed. Max finally relented and colored the other page, after observing my own coloring. It was a really special 5 minutes for us together!

Mommy's work

they will look great laminated

Max's page in progress...BEAUTIFUL!

My big boy helping me out!

how cute is he??

Gloria's First Thorn

I have not really encouraged Gloria to participate too much in our Lenten activities. She is only 19 months, and a serious space cadet ( I mean that as any loving mother does). But today, she did go out of her way to obey and do something nice. It occurred to me that I SHOULD be encouraging her, just as I do Max and Bella. To be honest, I don't even remember what she did. I was just too excited that Max pointed out she should pull a thorn out of Jesus' crown, that I totally forget what for. I think my big kids were more excited about it than Gloria. I know I was ECSTATIC!!!! I am really proud of all my kids. They are truly doing a great job seeking ways to go above and beyond their normal chores, or to sacrifice for Jesus! Its been so good for them...I am thinking of doing this all year long!

Max pulling the thorn for Gloria

am attempt to take her picture with her thorn

the actual "thorn"

smiling, but not at mommy

Pom Pom Painting

Let me say....I HAVE NO CREATIVITY WHATSOEVER! I rely on Pinterest to give me most of my "schooling" ideas, or activities to make with the kids. I am just no good at it. I was never good at art projects, science fair projects, or book reports. So this idea was just GENIUS  The girls wanted to paint the other day. I was OUT of paint brushes, so i got to thinking..."How can I let them do this without the mess of finger-painting?" 

painting!

 I invented brushes by attaching a pom pom ( some random art thingy used to create other random art thingy's) to clothespins and VIOLA! Paint Brushes! The girls were thrilled. 

Without realizing it, it truly became a lesson. I asked Bella to match the pom pom to the correct color paint. I also made sure she understood that only the blue pom pom could go in the blue paint! Again, GENIUS!!! (for me, at least)

Gloria did pretty well

Bella has a natural love for all things art. I have been trying to feed into this part of her. She loves to color and draw. She loves to use pencils, pens, markers, paint, or whatever she can get her hands on. I am now making sure everyday that she has sometime set aside for coloring. She gets this from her dad!

Bella made this for a very dear friend of mine! 

matching pom poms and colors

My little sweetie and her "smile"

Way to go mom: Fun and learning at the same time!

"Daddy Day"

Mike not being here is always hard on the kids. I was truly inspired by the ladies of my Regnum Christi team recently, during one of our resolutions (used to draw us closer to God through our vocations) involving our husbands. Now, my husband is not here so these resolutions always require a bit of creativity. For example, where Mike is, he rises at 2am EVERYDAY for his Adoration hour. SO, influenced by a resolution, I now rise at 2am and say a Rosary, as a means for us to pray together. He does not know I do this, which I think makes it all the more special. "Daddy Day" started with chores, b/c daddy always did business first. The kids cleaned windows and bathrooms. We ate daddy's favorite meals; bacon and eggs for breakfast, pizza for dinner, and snacks in between that reminded us of him. The kids played some video games, one of Mike's FAVORITE pastimes with the kids. We wrote letters to Mike, and the kids colored a TON of pictures. We turned on his favorite radio station and danced and laughed, and just really enjoyed this day. I admit that I miss Mike so much. It is not even a feeling I can put into words. He is doing such good work for God, and while we both know the other suffers, our suffering is never in vain, if we continue to work for Jesus. We will be doing "Daddy Day" every 2 weeks! It was a BLAST!

Max cleaning the bathroom

window cleaning

video games

Doing a good job!

they were thrilled, I don't normally let them play!

pizza for dinner

Yes, Gloria is standing in her chair

letters and pictures

Gloria doing her best work

Max copying a letter he dictated to me

He was working really hard!

Vegan Cheesecake...

I am NOT a health food person. I do try to stay away from artificial colors and preservatives. I admit to making my kids drink regular store bought milk, mostly b/c I can never afford anything better. I love butter, and sugar, and being a novice baker...can not imagine NOT using them! So when I offered dinner to a VERY DEAR, and special family (who don't eat dairy, and are very health conscious)...I wanted to make them something delicious they could eat. I admire this dear friend for her unceasing efforts to give her family the best, and hope to do the same with mine. I do a lot of reading these days about food and its source. I decided on a pasta dish for dinner. I wanted to make something for dessert as well. Searching Pinterest, I came across this vegan cheesecake idea. Now, THIS IS HARD for me to do. I LOVE CHEESECAKE!! It is probably my favorite dessert ever. Making it with anything other than sugar and cream cheese is just not possible. I had to give this a try. I confess...I was pleasantly surprised! This recipe is EXTREMELY good, and good for you!!

I admit this posting is my second attempt. The first batch I made I really didn't soak the cashews long enough. The filling was a bit gritty. I also only used 1/2 of the "maple syrup" for which I substituted organic blue agave! It was plenty sweet! Below is the soaked cashews (soaked for at least 16 hours). I also added the lemon and the lemon zest in this first processing.

soaked cashews, lemon, and lemon zest

After first processing

2nd processing with oil, blue agave

Crust baking in the oven, made of almonds, prunes, coconut oil, salt, baking powder

filling with blueberries added

ready for the freezer!

These truly are good. EVEN my kids ate them, and have asked me to make them again! I cant wait to share these with our friends tomorrow. I hope they enjoy them as much as we have and will in the future!

Breakfast Prepping...

I am really working on being more prepared during the week for meals, and meal planning. I am a typical "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of cooker. A little of this and a little of that is usually whats for dinner. I am especially bad about breakfast. Now that Max is in school until June, we HAVE to be out the door by 7:15...TOUGH!!! SO this week I am trying these out! Here is the recipe I used. I did double it b/c I didn't have the smaller pan size used!

pan lined with wax paper!

All mixed up!

This is 1 cup shredded carrot, 1 cup shredded zucchini, and 1 cup shredded potato as I didn't have parsnips.    I totally forgot to spray the wax paper but it turned out okay! I had to just cut the pieces attached to the paper and then peel it off. I also had to bake this for almost 25 minutes to get it firm in the center! I then just cut it into pieces and froze it for breakfast for the week. I'm sure all this healthy goodness will be covered in ketchup. 

All done!

 Of course, the girls wanted to help me. I think they took every pot out of the cabinet and insisted on cooking with me. It was really sweet. Gloria was also decked out in her princess dress-up! What fun!

Gloria helping!

Cooking soup!

she is so cute!

"Sick" Day

So, I got a call Friday morning around 9:30 (school starts at 7:45) that Max was in the school office not feeling well. I asked the nurse what was wrong, and she said he just seemed out of sorts. She informed me that Max did NOT have a fever, and had not thrown up. I sat puzzled for a minute. Why were they calling me? Did they want me to come get him? I asked the nurse "Should I come get him?" The nurse seems surprised that I even asked. I assume this made me sound like a bad mom, but when I was growing up, if we didn't have a fever or were not throwing up, we didn't get picked up from school. The nurse did inform me that his teacher's assistant had said  he was just sitting at his desk with his head down. This did make me think I should go get him, as Max hardly ever sits still, even when he is sick! I arrived at the office to see max sitting in a chair waiting for me. I asked him if he was okay. "Yes, mom, I am okay." "Did something happen that you don't want to talk about?"  "No, mom everything is fine."  So home we went. This is what ensued when we arrived there!

Vacuuming for mommy

Bella's school day!

Not happy that he didn't get a free pass

Just b/c Blaise is so CUTE!!

Almost 3 months old! 

silly boy, feeling just fine!

Looking back, I presume to think or dare I say...Max really just missed being home. He was a bit emotional all day. I have been reading a lot of parenting material lately, and have realized that Max often acts out or in this case, fakes sick, in order to force me to be with him. I didn't make a big deal about him being home, but I reminded him that telling a lie is NEVER okay. If he wanted to be with mommy that was GREAT, and I would love that , but he couldn't get out of school to do it. We presently made plans for a mommy/Max date, and he was so pleased. I admit my shock that he even thought to fake sick...HE IS 6!!!! Even I didn't try that until at least 8, and only to get out of tests I didn't study for! 

Amatuer Photography...

Max is really taking a liking to the camera. He is much like me in not enjoying having his picture taken, but enjoys taking pictures! Here are few of his latest shots.

his cousins doing tae kwon do

Carter striking a pose

relenting in having my picture taken!

Maybe I should give him some more practice time!