On the eve of his last day...

...go read this mom's blog post and admire those beautiful pictures and that once in a lifetime memory.
I told Jessica in the combox below that I hadn't yet cried about the Holy Father's resignation, but those pictures did me in. A priest friend of ours who is studying in Rome first shared the Vatican Radio picture on FB this morning with the added information that the little boy's name is John Paul. Oh. My. Heart. I know! Tomorrow is going to be a rough day for Catholics everywhere. As much as I am thrilled that Pope Benedict will get to retire, we are sure going to miss him.

 

Pope Benedict XVI Coloring Page

With his historic resignation just a few days away, I wanted to make a coloring page of our dear Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. I haven't drawn one in quite a while and feel rather rusty. I hope it does him justice. You can use it by itself or in conjunction with Jessica's amazing Papal Lap Book. I chose this picture as my inspiration because he looks so calm and contemplative. I hope he is granted many years to spend in quiet prayer and peace in thanksgiving for the service he has provided to the Church.

Pope Benedict XVI Coloring Page

 

Sorry!

I have been so absent here. I'm sorry. We've had another round of illness that started with that sore throat I had back on The Professor's birthday. Apparently that turned into a sinus infection followed by a flu-like something. Fun....right? And of course, it wasn't just me, it went through everyone including my little Cupcake who spiked a high fever and pulled a Linda Blair in the bathroom as her opening act. It's been a wild ride and it's not completely over yet. Sean thinks he's got a sinus infection now. Great.

This has been a bad year for illness. And in my less sane moments, I might be tempted to worry that our house was making us sick or that our diet had been compromised. But frankly, I think everyone just has a bad year now and then. Prior to this season of illness, we hadn't seen our pediatrician in a few years except for well checks (and we are bad about those anyway). These years just happen and from what I've been seeing on FB, it's happening all over the place. We are not the only ones. That keeps me sane.
That... and chocolate.

Here's hoping it's a much more healthy spring.
 

30 Days of Prayer to St. Joseph

Mama Mary is asking for 30 days of prayer for her dear daughter Courtney. Will you join us and pray for this sweet soul?


 

Going out of business

Our sweet friends from college along with their ten beautiful children ( Ten, right? I think it's ten. Did I miss one, Ian?), who have owned and faithfully run Aquinas and More Catholic Goods, have prayerfully decided to close their online doors. Their physical store closed a little while ago and the online store will close on February 28th. Please consider making a purchase now! Everything in stock is 20% off. And know that your purchase is helping this lovely family to close their business with as little debt as possible. Not to mention, helping you to stock up and be extra prepared for some feast days and liturgical celebrations coming up! Thanks!

 

{p,h,f,r} St. Valentine's edition

{pretty}

My beautiful girls decorated the table last night creating this centerpiece with some garland and electric candles.

{happy}

Happy to be fever free today. Happy to be able to breathe through my nose occasionally. But mostly, I am so happy that I had planned ahead and had everything waiting in my closet. It wasn't a big celebration. One of our local stores had some fun hats on clearance. I found these chocolate mustache's for the boys and chocolate roses for the girls. (No, they did not give up chocolate for Lent and while we do limit treats, we allow them on special feast days.)

{funny}

Does this picture really need a caption?

{real}

Pinterest lies. I saw somewhere, Pinterest, I think, that you could make heart shaped muffins using a marble. They look kind of heart blobbish to me. Oh well. They were eaten with gusto. That's what counts.

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~ with the lovely ladies at Like Mother, Like Daughter

Stock

I wish you could enjoy this delicious smell! I wish I could too.

We've been battling colds and/or allergies since The Professor's birthday. The older three have each taken their turn. We are praying that BigBoy and the little one don't get it. I'm either on round two of a cold or having the worst allergies of my life. I'm not sure. Hopefully the doctor will let me know later. Update: The doctor thought it was just allergies but after I came home, took a shower and had some dinner, the chills and fever hit. It's a cold, definitely a cold.

I've started making homemade stock to help us all as we recuperate. A friend (who's wonderful writings on feast day foods and festivities can now be found in mater et magistra magazine) taught me a long time ago how to make soup from vegetable peelings that you save up in your freezer. I've done it before but have recently started doing it regularly. Maybe you know this trick too. You save up your chicken bones and carcasses in the freezer.

Along with those, you also scrub your veggies clean before you peel them as you cook during the week, save the peelings also any celery tops or leek trimmings and add them to the freezer as well. When it's soup making day, dump everything into a pot, add some seasonings and boil it all down!

I like to boil it until the full pot is at half. That usually makes 8-9 C. of a thick gelatinous stock. Easy to use or keep in the freezer.

Best Link-up EVAH!!!

-1-

Well, now, it's been such a long time since I've done 7 Quick Takes. But considering it's the "Best Link-up EVAH" and it's hosted by the recently crowned "Coolest Blogger", I thought today might be a fun day to jump in.

-2-

Happy Feast of St. Josephine Bakhita! Today is Sunshine's confirmation name day. We don't have any special plans. It's not fun to celebrate when you're on the couch with a red nose and a fever. The Professor was sick on his name day. I'm hoping this isn't a trend for this year.

-3-

So, I kind of took some heat on Facebook when I posted the following:

Am I the only parent who can't stand Goodnight Moon?

1) Yellow, red and green are not soothing colors. My eyes sigh in relief when we turn to a black and white page. Red lettering...also killer on the eyes. 
2) Why is the bowl of mush sitting on the nightstand all night long and not in the sink in the kitchen?
3) The quiet old lady whispering hush creeps me out. The way she appears and disappears. Weird. She disappears while the fire is still going and there's no screen in front... in a kid's room! Seriously? Not to mention the carpeted hearth just waiting to smolder into a blaze from the first spark that jumps out. Not smart, people.

Yeah, I might be a little crabby today.

According to the comments I got in response, this is a much beloved beautiful piece of prose with unique enough pictures to captivate attention and interest. So, I went back and read it again. And my eyes still hurt. Based on some of the comments, I'm thinking it might be this particular new fangled edition. I'm trying to get an older copy from the library to compare mine with.

Yeah... I might still be a little crabby.

-4-

Ok, my mood is improving slightly. It's piano practice time and my children are working on their recital pieces. I love this time of year! I love all of their choices too. They've each chosen a piece by David Nevue. His music is just lovely. They are far from playing perfection (their recital is still a few months away), but it's fun to hear them as they progress.

-5-

Sean took the big kids to Confession last Saturday. It's a parish that is a ways away but the Cistercians usually send one of their priests over to help and if you haven't been to confession with a Cistercian, by golly, get yourself to one! It's amazing. Sadly though, the amount of construction and traffic now between us is probably going to make that confession location an unrealistic choice. They arrived much later than they thought they would and only managed to get three in. Thankfully, we just discovered that there are regularly 4-5 priests hearing confession once a week at a local parish. Score! We got the rest of us in this week and we are all still on the same schedule! Whoo hoo! I hate it when some of us have gone and some of us have to wait. It's the little things.

-6-

I haven't seen any news yet about the snowstorm hitting the Northeast, but I have been thinking about those I know in that area. I'm so sorry. I know we complain about the heat down here, but I'll gladly take heat over snow any day. Especially so much snow that you can't leave your house. And yes, Melanie, my children do actually agree! :)

-7-

Time to go wake the baby up. It's usually a rule of the house to never wake a sleeping baby, but if she naps too much longer, she will be up until midnight and that will not make for a happy mama. So, crabby baby or crabbier mama... you decide!

 

Feast of St. Blaise

Did you get your throat blessed today?

 

Feast of St. Brigid

Hi there! I know it's late. Today was a busy one. I did manage to make some Irish Soda Bread for the feast day. My kids love this stuff but if I made it more often, it wouldn't feel like a feast day treat, now would it? They had it with scrambled eggs and veggie sticks tonight for dinner. GF Hubby did not, obviously. I was going to make colcannon but ran out of time so instead, I'm going to take a page from Dawn's notebook and make Shepherdess Pie tomorrow for a continuation of the feast today along with something for Candlemas. I don't think St. Brigid will mind.

For those of you who have never made soda bread, this White Soda Bread recipe (scroll down) is by far, the easiest. I usually have it whipped up before my oven even reaches the correct temperature. And the way I simulate the bastible pot that the Irish would have used to bake this bread, I use two 2 inch tall cake pans, one on top of the other, like this...

You could also bake it in a Dutch oven for the same effect. It turns out a delicious, rugged, crunchy outside and soft inside. Slice it thick when it's still warm or let it cool completely and you can slice it thinner.

May Brigid bless the house wherein you dwell

Bless every fireside every wall and door

Bless every heart that beats beneath its roof

Bless every hand that toils to bring it joy

Bless every foot that walks its portals through 

May Brigid bless the house that shelters you. 

(From a friend on FB)

St. Brigid, pray for us!

Happy Feast of St. Brigid!