Why I Love Easter, Child Spacing, Homeschooling and Other Random Thoughts.

1.

For the first time, in well over a year, I sorta have writer's block. I can't really think what to blog about...so I'll just let 7 things that have been rumbling around in my head, spill out on the computer screen.

2.

I love Easter....probably even more than Christmas.  I love how we have the season of joy and celebration after a season of penance and suffering.  It's been said that you have to go through pain, to find joy and every year the Lent/Easter season reminds us of that.  You have to suffer through Good Friday and the reminder of the Crucifixion to get to Easter Sunday...the joy of the Resurrection. 

3. 

On a more secular note, I love Easter egg hunts and chocolate candy. The kids have an endless amount of fun hiding Easter eggs and finding them (even if they are empty), again and again and again.   Our kids even set up an Easter egg hunt for Ben and me.  I have to say, those eggs were well-hidden...harder than we hid them, anyway.

4.

Easter reminds us what our faith is all about.  It reminds us why Christianity is so different from every other religion.  Jesus wasn't just a great leader, or a prophet or this charismatic guy that everyone followed.  He claimed to be the SON OF GOD.  That's a pretty major claim. And, then he died in the most humbling, horrifying manner possible. And, then he ROSE FROM THE DEAD.  Which is pretty darn amazing when you think about it.   Easter is really what our faith is all about..and I love that about it.  It's why Jesus Christ is not in the same category as Abraham or Mohammad or Gandhi or anyone else.  None of them ROSE FROM THE DEAD. 

(Go see Micaela for more reasons to love Easter..and send her a nice little Congratulations note :). 

5.

Let's talk about something else now.  Let's talk about child spacing.  I love the Catholic blogosphere.  I love the Catholic community there.  But, one of the curses is that due to my own insecurities, I always feel super inadequate about my family size and child spacing.  As though, somehow we are "less Catholic" because we don't have a baby every 18 months-2 years.  By the world' standards, we have a large family, but by Catholic standards, it's pretty small for a couple who has been married as long as we have (13 years).  I will admit to feeling a teeny, tiny stab of envy whenever anyone writes something like "we had 4 kids in 6 years" or "5 kids, 8 and under" or "God blessed us 5 times in 8 years." or "I've been pregnant 5 times in 6 years" It's a badge of honor I don't get to have.  Somehow saying, "we had 4 kids in 11 years" isn't all that impressive.  It's just not.  I never get any nasty comments about my family size.  No one is really that impressed with 4 kids, spread out over a span of 10 years.  No one asks me "how I do it".  No one talks about us in awed tones "they have 4 kids, 12 and under."   I think this has been weighing on my mind more, just because I'm already 36.  I don't have tons of years of fertility left, especially since I wasn't all that fertile in my 20's (and breastfeeding really affects my fertility) so I highly doubt it's going to get any better as I get older.   

6.

Other thoughts....any other homeschoolers find it INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT to balance time at home doing school with time outside the home, doing fun stuff, like coops, activities, park days, etc.  On the one hand, we really need to stay home to get our school work done.  The day is just too stressed if we try to do outside activities and school all in the same day.  I hate feeling like we need to be done by la certain time.  It just makes me and the kids stressed and I yell too much.  On the other hand, we really, really NEED to get out of the house and see other people and do fun stuff.  It's just SO HARD to balance everything.  Sigh  Any tips.  (and yes, that is a lot of capital letters...I'm feeling a bit dramatic tonight). 

7. 

I've been trying to eliminate my tired, stressed out voice. You know that voice...the one you use when you are just tired and stressed out.  Part of doing that is learning that I really need to just slow down.  I think a big part of my problem is that I have way too many expectations of all the things I want/need to get done in a day, so I end up spending the day just running around, being impatient and stressed out with everyone.  I've learned that I really need to just limit the amount of stuff I expect myself to do in a day and learn how to slow down, instead of rushing, rushing, rushing all the time. Part of that is realizing that it takes longer to do stuff than I think.  You would think after 4 kids I would have figured this out, but it takes longer to get out  the door, longer to eat lunch, longer to clean-up, longer to do just about everything...and that's okay.  Once, I realize it takes longer, I can work on not being so stressed and planning for it.  I must be an awfully slow learner, because it took me A LONG TIME to figure these things. 

And, I think I've used up my allotted quota of words in ALL CAPS for one blog post, so go see Jen for more 7 Quick Takes Friday (and congratulate her on her book). 

Happy Easter!! Answering Some Questions about What We Wore.

Happy Easter!!

Alleluia!  

Christ is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed.  (that is the traditional Easter Season Greeting, but unlike Kendra, I'm not going to go around saying that to people...probably not, anyway). 

To celebrate Easter, I'm linking up with Kendra for more Sunday Questions.

1. What did you and your family wear to Mass on Easter Sunday?

We didn't really wear anything different than what we wear on a regular Sunday.  I never buy special Easter clothes.  An occasion has to be REALLY special (like a wedding) for us to buy special clothes for it.  So, we just wore our regular Sunday clothes. I took individual shots because it's so much easier to get a good shot, individually...and even that is a huge challenge with certain kids.  Either that or my kids are especially uncooperative when it comes to pictures.   Probably that is it.

Yes, Heidi and I are practically wearing the same outfit.  Like mother, like daughter.  

Linking this one up with FLAP for What I Wore Easter Sunday. 

2. Easter Bunny: thumbs up or thumbs down?

Thumbs down.  Way, way down.  My parents used to do the Easter bunny when we were kids, until one year they put us all on the Feingold Diet and all we got was homemade carob eggs in our Easter baskets.  Carob!??!?!?  My parents were crunchy, health-food nuts before it was cool.  Thankfully, carob has gone by the wayside, because everyone knows that chocolate is healthy.  

Anyway, we don't really do things like Santa or the Easter Bunny.  And, it really has nothing to do with lying or magic, but because I refuse to give some mythical creature credit for MY HARD WORK.  I just don't have the energy to keep up the Santa/Easter Bunny facade.  Plus, in our 13 years of marriage, we've had richer years and poorer years (more poorer), and some years we can't do as much for Christmas or Easter.  It just makes it easier when you don't have the pressure of having to be Santa/Easter Bunny.  Our kids always get something, but it's not always the same.  Some years they've gotten bigger Easter presents, and some years, it's just been a bit of candy and something small.   This year, we didn't even have Easter baskets.  They each got something small (but not in a basket), and then tons of candy for our egg hunt.  We've moved to so much that Easter baskets just do not make the moving cut, and it's not something I want to spend money on. 

3. Do you prefer to celebrate holidays at your own house or at someone else's house?

I prefer to celebrate at someone else's house.  But that hardly ever happens...really the only times were for our three years at Ave Maria Law school where we celebrated with good friends.  Second to that I prefer to celebrate at our house with friends or family over.  We aren't doing that this year either, because we don't have any family nearby and haven't lived here long enough to make good friends (plus, we're probably moving in a few months).  This year, it's just us, so we are staying pretty low key. We went to Mass.  We had an egg hunt with the insane of amount of Easter candy my mom sent (thanks Mom!) and then we're having ham and lots of gluten-free goodies. And, I'm planning on watching lots of Netflix and catching up on Lost...since I gave up watching alone for Lent. 

Hey, there's candy inside these things!

4. What is your favorite kind of candy?

Chocolate truffles. I LOVE chocolate truffles. Second to that, would be a chocolate/peanut butter combination (like Reese's peanut butter cups).   But, really, truffles are my favorite. 

5. Do you like video games?

No, I don't get the point of them.  I love to read. If I want to relax/chill out/waste time, I read.  Blogs, message boards, books, articles, the cereal box, whatever is available. Or I write...blog posts, message boards,  whatever.   My kids don't play video games either.  For one thing, we don't have any video game consoles (like x-box, wii..boy do we sound pathetic..huh?)  And, their favorite game is chess, so they do play that A LOT on the computer. They are crazy into chess.   They spend enough time on the computer...playing chess, watching chess videos or writing stories, that I shudder to think of them spending more time playing video games. 

6. Do you speak another language? 

Not fluently.  I took Spanish in high school, but don't remember much.  And, I'm sorta learning Latin along with my kids  Sorta.  I rely on the teacher's manual a lot when correcting stuff.

May you All have a Blessed and Holy Easter Season!!! 

Catholic Woman's Almanac (CWA)

Happy Easter Monday!!

And, Happy April Fool's Day to those of you clever enough to play tricks.

Today I am:

Thankful for:

......My Mom, who sent us these lovely Easter candies...including my absolute favorite..chocolate truffles  There are also 3 chocolate ballerinas (not actually an upside down female symbol as they might look like int he pic.), a cross, 1 chocolate car and 2 peanut butter eggs!  Yum!!

If one were to look very, very closely at this picture, one might just find that a few of the truffles are missing.  That might, just might be that a certain someone who shall remain nameless couldn't resist trying a few, before snapping the picture!

They just arrived today..which was perfect because then I didn't need to have any willpower before jumping right in to indulge. 
 

 

...good friends...who had us and several other families over for a super fun Easter lunch/egg hunt yesterday.

Reading:

....Rapunzel, Let Down  by Regina Doman..who is my absolute favorite Catholic author.   I bought myself the Kindle version for only $5..and it's a real page turner.  Hard to put down!    When I finish it, I'll try to post a book review.

In the kitchen:

...baking a ham.  Since we weren't home yesterday, I'm making us ham today.  I only  make ham twice a year..on Christmas and Easter, but it is the one meat that everyone likes (hmmm...wonder why).  It's not the healthiest thing though..so I only make it twice a year and we enjoy it for a week, and then it's gone.   I actually looked in Whole Foods for a healthier version without any nitrates, and almost fainted at their prices..so we just went with the regular, unhealthy, nitrate-laden version.  Oh well.   I have a friend who taught me that every time we say grace before eating and bless the food, we should pray that God will protect us from any pesticides, GMO's nitrates or whatever other junk is in there.   I have another friend who always prays that the calories don't stick to her hips..but that seems..ummm...not quite orthodox to me, so I don't do that.

Playing Tricks:

....I'm terrible at April Fool's day tricks, but I did manage to convince my kids for some time that I had set cockroach traps in the garage, captures a male and female and was planning on starting a whole roach farm that I was going to keep in their beds.  They were quite aghast at the concept...and kept protesting to keep roaches in their bed and that no, roaches are NOT cute.  

Praying For:

....friends who need prayers...due to sickness or various other issue

.....for Ben to find a job and for the bar exam.

Capturing:

...cute pics.

Pondering:

....topics for future blog posts.  I have so many rambling around in my head...just need to write them.  

Now go visit Suscipio for more CWA.

What I Wore Easter Sunday...and Gluten Free Goodies

Linking up again for a fun What I wore Easter post!

I spent the entire day yesterday baking goodies for this morning. I made brownies with chocolate butter cream frosting, peanut butter sandwich cookies with a cream frosting and coffee cake...everything gluten-free of course.

 And, guys...I going to spill a secret about gluten-free baking. It's not that hard. Honestly..it's not. For everything, except for breads and pizza crusts, I basically use any regular recipe and substitute a good gluten-free flour blend with xanthum gum or guar gum. I prefer Namaste Perfect Flour blend, because Whole Foods has it for a decent price and it already has xanthum gum in it..but Better Batter brand is also really good.

 I don't like the Bob's Red Mill GF flour blend though...it contains bean flours which aren't that great for baking...so don't buy it...unless of course you want to ignore the voice of experience.

..  

 For the brownies, I used a brownie recipe from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook (subbing for the flour) and frosted them with a regular chocolate butter cream frosting (butter, powdered sugar, cocoa, vanilla and milk). 

 For the peanut butter sandwich cookies, I simply made flourless peanut butter cookies. The recipe is so easy..just 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar and 1 egg. Form into balls, flatten and bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. I filled them with cool whip mixed with melted chocolate chips. I was hoping to turn the cool whip into chocolate, but it didn't quite work out that way, the chocolate chips just hardened into little small bits..but it was still super, super good..almost like an oreo cream filling. I made sandwiches out of the cookies and used the cool whip in the middle. 

 For the coffee cake, I used a basic recipe for cinnamon coffee cake and just subbed the flour. We had that for breakfast (along with ice cream and the peanut butter sandwich cookies) after Mass. I took the brownies with me to a SUPER fun Easter gathering at a friend's house with a bunch of  other families, the kids had an eggs hunt and a good time was had by all! 

And, I don't know why I just spent the first several paragraphs of this post blathering on about food...other than the fact that I love to eat and love food and baking...and I wanted to talk about my goodies.

And, I probably subconsciously think that food is more interesting than clothes. 

So, now you all know where my priorities lie. 

 But, here is the actual point of this post. What I wore Easter.

   

 Dress: Thrifted from an awesome thrift store in Rhode Island. I bought it while I was pregnant with Elsa, even though it's not a maternity dress...but I hoped I could wear it as one. I couldn't..it looked terrible. But, it actually works pretty decent as a nursing dress...even though it's not one. I usually hate wearing dresses because they are hard to nurse in, but this one isn't so bad...although I do need to use a cover with it, because I have to come out over the top. I'm not a big nursing cover fan..but I did have one and it worked pretty well with this dress, and Elsa is at the age where the cover actually helps her nurse because she is easily distracted.

 Tank top: Wal-Mart 

 Belt: Amazon.com 

Shoes: acquired for free from Payless. 

 Glasses: Zenni Optical (I have so many glasses from there..love that place). 

 And, here's a pic of the kids. I could NOT get a good one, before they started mutiny. They were especially uncooperative this morning. All their clothes are hand-me downs from others, except for Heidi's. She bought her skirt with her birthday money off Zulily (sob..my girl wants to spend birthday money on clothes?!?!?) and her shirt was bought from Wal-Mart (I think).

This one is a tiny, tiny bit better:

   

 But, not much.  

So, go check-out the better dressed families at the link-up and I'll be linking up with Fine Linen and Purple tomorrow. 

And have a wonderful and Blessed Easter and Easter Week Everyone!! Alleluia!!!