May Flower

Analee's always picking flowers for others. I love little girls!

Faustina is almost 5 months old and I don't take nearly enough pictures of her! So here are a few from today.

I am truly grateful this is out of focus! Trust me. The airbrush look is much better than the real life one.

My little May Flower is so kissable. Look at that face!

Quick Update

Quick update while I am making First Communion gifts....

First Communions are underway, which means I am b.u.s.y.  Making lots of these! Thank goodness for my husband who is Mr. Mom these days.

her pouts are so dang cute

Even homeschooling for me:

Thank goodness for the best baby on earth. She sleeps! on her own! all night! and I had nothing to do with it.  Look at this angel:

The weather is so beautiful. I love love love Virginia! I have started exercises by pushing three kids in a stroller around the track near our house. I create quite the scene. And I've gotten a lot of comments like: wow, what a workout! Oh yeah, putting all the rest to shame with my mommy muscles. not really.  You should see my beet red face by the end.

We attending the Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation of my midwife and her family yesterday. It was so special! I just love seeing people come into the church. After Faustina's birth, she asked about why we chose her name. I was able to share a little about St. Faustina's life and Divine Mercy Jesus.  Unknown to me, she did a little research on it and choose Faustina as her confirmation name! God is doing some amazing things with this little one!

Here's the bonnet I found to match her baptismal gown. This lady does beautiful work! I just got this one and another one in the mail today. For some reason, Faustina and bonnets just go together.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/118531278/white-silk-and-lace-baby-bonnet?ref=shop_home_active

Happy Easter!

Yesterday was one of the best Easters I can remember.  Every night before Easter, we decorate the house and get Easter baskets together so the children wake up to a surprise in the morning.  I made two banners last year and this year, we added some Easter Icons and more religious art. 

On Easter, we to relax and enjoy each others company the way Easter is meant to be: teaching our children about the importance of the Resurrection, living the Resurrection by going to Mass, and carrying out the joy of the resurrection in our enjoyment of the gifts God has given.  

This week, we plan to do extend our Easter celebration with plenty of Easter crafts and Easter stories. 

Happy Easter to you and your families!

Our First Seder Meal

Last night we had our first Seder meal. It wasn't very well planned, but it did the job.  I'm hoping it will be a tradition and get better every year.  I got the script from Curr Click, but I saw one on Catholic Inspired as well.

The kids were very attentive throughout the whole thing. I think it was so out of the ordinary, they didn't know what to think.  Plus, I typically don't serve crackers and juice to my kids, so they were thrilled for the matzo and grape juice.

Here's a picture of Analee dipping her finger in the grape juice. How often do you tell your kids to dip their fingers in their grape juice 10 times for the 10 plagues? That was great.  Hiding the matzo was fun too.

Analee asked if the grape juice was lamb's blood. Would have been cooler if it was, although Eric and I were wishing it was wine.  Traditional Passovers include 4 glasses of wine!  I think we need to do this more authentic next year and invite some friends over.

I didn't have any parsley, so cilantro was substituted. It's Mexican parsley!

I love all the symbolism.  Chicken bone on a plate...morbid and weird, but cool.  Not sure about the roasted egg. Why does it need to be roasted after I boil it? Seems redundant.

Who knew it was the Jews who made the first Paleo granola bars? Choreset was eerily similar to these... I think next time I will just make those because my choreset wasn't the best.

The lamb leg roast with pan gravy was amazing! Such a treat. It was the first lamb roast I've prepared and even though I messed up the recipe, it still turned out.  This is definitely happening again.

Since the Seder meal isn't really a MEAL, I had to make some other food.  Besides the lamb, I wasn't sure else is typically served at a Passover meal.  So, we had also had steamed cauliflower and a nice salad with candied pecans, gorgonzola and green apple.  I think it was kosher.  At least I didn't serve bacon! no pork at this meal.

A Rooster Egg!

Roosters don't lay eggs, but this is a rooster egg!  A rooster is a sign of the resurrection, so it's pretty fitting to have my clay roosters put on an Easter egg.  I've gotten a couple requests to have my rooster cane on something other than jewelry, so I came up with this. It's not a new concept, but it's first time I've done it.  It was a lot of fun to make!

I used a wooden egg, so it's very durable and it stands on its own.  There are three roosters around the egg with my blue folk flowers creating a millefiori design around the clay roosters.

I put a shiny coat of sealer, so that's why the top one has a glare on it. The bottom picture is with the flash on, so no glare.

They are not in my shop, so if you want one, email me! The cost is $15.00 each. I'm catching up on orders, so no more new orders will be going out this week. Don't worry, though, the Easter season is 50 days long!

Awesome Book Giveaway

If you don't have Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions, here's a great chance to get it for free! It's one of my favorite cookbooks.  Janice, one of my fellow homeschooling moms in the area is giving it away on her blog. There aren't many entries, so you have a good chance of winning!

You also have the option of getting Sally Fallon's brand new Baby Book. I purchased it right after it came out and have been loving it! I was going to recommend it on my blog, but this will do.   She gives solid nutritional advice (think: Weston A Price Foundation) and a ton of other advice to keep in mind. I have learned quite a few things. I've owned probably a dozen baby books and by far, this is the best.

I also like that she's very common sense when it comes to parenting. She doesn't side with attachment parenting or baby training, but instead suggests parents use their good old common sense when it comes to putting their kids to bed, baby wearing, sleeping, etc.  She even says not to feel bad for giving your kids the occasional spank for very naughty behavior.  I like this woman! 

There is a weird chapter about not teaching your baby until their ready to learn. It's kind of new agey.  I forget the name of it.  Other than that, I think it's a great book.

Spring!

I think everyone would agree it's been quite the long, cold winter.  While we have enjoyed our new baby, it seemed like from January to March, all we've been doing is getting sick and trying to recuperated from being sick.  Thank goodness for the ray of sunshine called Faustina!

She's three months old now and getting so big! She's able to sit up when we hold her hands, is fascinated with her hands, and is trying to talk to us with her coos. 

Jude said today, "I just love her so much!" Sounds so cute coming from a two year old boy.

Liam has lost both front teeth now. According to traditional Fuji culture, he's now ready to leave the bosom of his mother and work along side his father all day.  I have yet to see a loss of attention. He's still the one-upper when it comes to affection. If I get one kiss from Eric, Liam's giving me two.  Yes, they make me feel like a queen every day!

Faustina is now back to good health after the RSV- pneumonia-hospital stay.  It was one of the scariest things I've been through as a parent.  To top it off, I got into a fender bender on my way to pick up a prescription after I learned she had RSV.  No damage was done, but the other guy made such a fuss over nothing, I ended up a hot mess of tears over all the stress.  I think that was the third day of lent.  Let's just say, dealing with that guy during that stress was all the sacrifice I needed to do.

Despite all my good intentions of celebrating the liturgical year in full, we had yet to celebrate one feast day- until St. Patrick's day. The kids decorated and we made green cookies. Today they said, "What can we do for St. Joseph's day??"  So I found the lazy mom's guide to a St. Joseph alter- a paper one! We did make some chocolate crowns of thorn though, which they are eating at present.  Maybe this is the start of something. 

I'm trying my best everyday to overcome feelings of being too overwhelmed.  Keeping my eyes from the over achievers blogs, really does help! I tend to feel like I have to do what everyone else is doing or I'm not doing enough.  When I look at my kids playing together, I realize that even though they don't get to do a whole lot outside the home, the best gift we've given them is inside the home. Siblings. Siblings are friends that live with you. God is good and His grace is always sufficient!