Celebrating A Special Birthday

March 4th

"March Forth!  
It's a command, you see!"  

These are words my Grandma Morris would share often regarding her birthday.  What a cool day to have your birthday - the date forming a "command".  I can almost see and hear her say that now, with her sweet smile and smiling eyes.  How I love and miss those times.  But, I am thankful for our memories and so blessed to be able to carry them on.  She would drop off yummy treats and baked goods every year on our birthdays and make sure to call and sing "Happy Birthday" too.  These small acts given were HUGE acts of love received.  Ones that I hope to carry on and bless us others with as well.  We've definitely taken over the singing of the "Happy Birthday" song and are known to even play the piano while we sing it.  She was my only grandparent who was musically inclined (piano and mandolin), and I know it brought so much JOY that my own children were in music/piano lessons.

One of her signature treats were Rice Krispie Treats - cut into squared, wrapped in wax paper (like a little present) and topped with a sticker.  It was so special to get them every year!  We looked forward to them on our birthdays and holidays.  She would never forget.  And who remembered them this year?  Not I, I must say.  My awesome husband!!!  He was the one who remembered and said we need to make them.  So it became a family project!  We used the standard Rice Krispie treat recipe and made up three batches and them shared them at a family get-together that same night.

I never had a write up on my Grandma Morris as she passed away in December of 2010, which was before I started blogging.  So this is my first sharing about her.  What a blessing she was to me!!  Here are some pictures I could find of her....

(A family birthday we had at our house - whose birthday - dunno!  But you can tell these kids have changed a TON since then!  Love the smiles from Grandma in the background.  She sure loved all the kids!!)

 (Grandma and Grandpa Morris with baby Melody)

(Grandma Morris, my mom, Grandma Hamerlinck)

 (Grandma and Grandpa Morris with Ariel, 7 months old)

 (Grandma and Grandpa always made it in to visit our new babies in the hospital, but little Max was born on a nasty snowstorm so we had NO visitors in the hospital for him.  They did make it over when he was a couple weeks old though - in this picture!)

(My dad with his parents - again another family birthday party at our house - for our August birthday kids, Fone and Melody) 

(Fone's 7th birthday party) 

(Grandma and Grandpa with Max, who was just a little over a year old here)

++Thank you, God, for the life and love of my Grandma Morris.  I pray she is already in her Heavenly Home, smiling down upon us.  May her love and intercession be with us daily!++

Wordless Wednesday

A "like father - like son" Wordless Wednesday

Good Friday - 2014

Although Good Friday is a "down day" in our house in remembrance of the sacrifice Our Lord made for us, there are two things we always do and look forward to as a family - our Good Friday tea and Good Friday service at our church (the only day with no Mass).

Each food item below tells the story of Christ's Passion.  Here are pictures from our faith-filled Good Friday tea...

**The Water Bowl**

**The King's Crown**

**Out of Envy**

**Purple Cloak**

**The Crown of Thorns**

**The Seamless Garment**

**The Two Robbers**

**Vinegar To Drink**

**The Temple Curtain**

**Roman Centurion**

**Laid In The Tomb**

Thanks to Alice at Cottage Blessings for creating this tea idea and for Jessica at Shower of Roses for always inspiring me as a mother how to build our own domestic church.  Jessica made the printable signs for each food item - they can be found here.  My link from 2012 can be found here with more details on what each food item was.

Holy Thursday - 2014

Today begins the Holy Triduum in our Church!  It is one of my favorite Masses of the whole year. Fone and Mario served Mass and our family was asked to take up the gifts following the dressing of the altar and the presentation of the holy oils.  Super special night!!!

Before Mass, we fed our hungry crew a Holy Thursday themed meal, almost identical to the meal we have done for the last two years.  It's so sweet how the kids look forward to and remember and talk about these special traditions throughout the year.

Here was our menu...

**Hearts of Palm**

(we had salad - one plain and one Caesar, since palms are green plants too and we need a veggie)

**Costly Oil**

(plain ole olive oil - we sprinkled on some parmesan and crushed pepper for a yummy dip for the bread)

**Thirty Pieces of Silver**

(30 Ritz crackers)

**Unleavened Bread**

(skinny bread - went great with the olive oil dip)

**Mount of Olives**

(black olives)

**Cock Crows Twice**

(chicken pot pies)

**Gethsemane Figs**

(Fig Newtons)

**Judas' Kisses**

(Hershey's kisses with green wrappers)

**Clouds of Heaven**

(Cool Whip to go with the fig newtons)

**Peter's Tears**

(Altoid mints - they are so strong, they can bring tears to your eyes)

Here is our celebration for 2012.  And as always, a HUGE thanks to Jessica for sharing the idea of this tea to begin with - what a wonderful inspiration she is to me!!!

++Thank you, God, for ideas like this themed tea to help remember and understand all about the sacrifice of Your Son and His great love for us.++  

Messy Spaghetti Baby

I am mostly all about teaching etiquette and cleanliness at a young age, so normally when my kids eat spaghetti, we cut it so it's nice and bite size and easy to scoop with a fork or a spoon.  But, just last evening, when I was away at a MNO (Mom's Night Out), my husband decided to let Luke have fun and gave him complete free reign with his hands while eating spaghetti.  Here's the precious video that Neil was sweet enough to record for me (and now all of you!!)....

**Did you notice at the end how he set the fork down and dove in with his other hand??  If not, you better go check it out again!!**