He’s 15

Yep, my oldest is 15.  Here he is with his cake…good thing I caught that I had placed a 14 on it, instead of a 15, before he saw it.  But, it must have been one of those days because he caught that I had the 5 on backwards.  What can I say??!??  It must be pregnancy brain mixed in with teenage whatchamakalit that leaves me so scattered.

 

Dash – 15 on April 24th

I think the other two are waiting for the cake to be served.  German Chocolate with Coconut Pecan frosting.  A favorite on both sides of the family.

Happy Birthday, Dash! 

May the coming year be better than you hope for, may your decisions be laced with the wisdom of another year behind them, and may God always protect and guide your path.  Your dad and I do indeed love you, first born son.

Thankful Thursday!

1. For smiling boys after receiving their sacraments of Confirmation and First Holy Eucharist.

2. The end of dance lessons today and the recital on Sunday.

3. Date nights.

4. Kids who are old enough to babysit while Eric and I go on a date night.

5. Dr. Pepper and Chai Tea.

6. The gifts of the Holy Spirit.

7. Being able to order online any gifts, necessities, books, school materials, etc. that I need.

8. Reading magazines on my kindle so there is less paper coming into my home (paper I would then have to sort or ‘do’ something with!).

9. Being able to sleep better at night.

10. Being able to fit into my regular jeans with help of the Bella Band!!!  (No, this is not a pic of me.)

11. The end of the school year being closer, rather than farther.

12. The thought that greenhouses will be opening up in a short couple weeks!  I cannot wait to get some more color in my yard and garden.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Confirmation & 1st Eucharist

 

Homemade cake for Zeke’s celebration. 

Zeke asked his Uncle Ben Hawkins to be his Confirmation sponsor.  The Mass was in Ellendale (70 miles from our home) on Friday, April 13, 2012… the kids, at least one parent, and sponsor were to be there early.  The parish served a meal for those of us who lived far away – very nice.  The rest of us arrived around 6pm to reserve seats and let the little guys run off some steam before Mass began at 7pm.

The kids did a great job during Mass.  They are so uninhibited and raised their hands eagerly to answer the bishop’s questions about their knowledge of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  The Bishop’s homily was once again so perfect for the kids and adults alike.  He always reminds us that Confirmation is not the end of our Catholic learning, but only the beginning.  He encourages kids and parents to keep learning about and improving their knowledge of the Catholic faith.

Zeke’s classmates from LaMoure with Bishop Aquilla and our local priest, Fr. Okafor.

Waiting for pictures with the Bishop.

Grandpa and Grandma Green Acres with Zeke (above) and Eric and I with Zeke (below).

Grandpa & Grandma Golden Acres with Zeke.

Zeke, newly confirmed!

Bishop Aquilla came to the social hall and visited with as many families as possible.  He is really a blessing to our diocese.

Due to the late night Mass, we celebrated on Saturday.  We tried to make the day special for Zeke.  My dad took both Zeke and Graham fishing on Saturday morning and into the afternoon.  My brother (Collin), his wife (Anne) and their children came out to visit in the afternoon.  It was the most gorgeous day!  We spent time outside and Zeke was able to build a fire …thank goodness Grandpa Golden Acres stepped up to help or we might have all been smoked off the patio!

Louis, barefoot and ‘smore’ happy.

Grandma Golden Acres dishing up the smores.

On Sunday, our parish, Holy Rosary, celebrated the newly confirmed.  The kids dressed up again and greeted parishioners.  They brought up the gifts and sat up in front.

Eric is their teacher.  He does a really great job!

Versatile Blogger Award

Kimberly at Kim’s Concoctions, gave me a blogging award.  She posted it to my cooking blog, Domestic Family Dining, but I post more regularly and am read most often here.  This title for sure fits me … if versatile also can be translated as flexible and posting sporadically!  I humbly thank her and if you have time, check out her blog.  She has great home-style recipes with a southwestern or Asian flair – absolutely wonderful.

The award works like this:

• Thank the person who awarded you by linking back to their post
• Pass the award along to 15 other new or newly discovered blogs
• List 7 interesting things about yourself

7 THINGS ABOUT MYSELF

1. I am pregnant, but I wish I could skip right to the first day newborn.

2. My son Zeke’s 1st Communion/Confirmation is later today – 7pm at a town 70 miles away.  Yes, that is stressful, but exciting all wrapped up in one!  And, I haven’t hemmed his pants as of this moment, but I’m blogging anyway because this seems to be more fun.

3. I’m the chapter advisor for my college women’s fraternity (yes, it’s like a sorority, but we were founded as a women’s fraternity).

4. I get super frustrated when there are no clean areas (even one clean spot would be enough to keep me sane) in my house. 

5.  During Lent, I cut up the kids’ computer recharger cord and smiled while doing so.  Now, there’s no need to regulate computer time; what a relief! 

6. I enjoy reading Christian romance novels, but rarely take time to indulge.

7. If I could, I’d order groceries online and have them delivered to my home.  It’s worth my time.

I do not even regularly read 15 blogs, so I’m at a bit of a disadvantage.  However, of those I read, here are blogs deserving of an award. 

1. Lord, Make Me a Saint

2. A Place for Everything, And Everything in It’s Place

3. Praying For Grace

4. Minnesota Mom

5. The Accidental Pumpkin

Happy Easter

For the first time since my husband joined the church (back in 1998), our family attended the Easter Vigil.  Now, truth be told, we would not have chosen this if we didn’t have to travel on Sunday morning to get to our family’s Easter Celebration/Gathering.  However, I asked for prayers from friends for patience and it all turned out well.  The three youngest fell asleep, for which I am grateful!  I actually heard the readings and responsorial psalms, something I don’t remember from the first time we attended the Vigil….I think having my husband join the church just made that whole Mass a blur – either that or having an active baby who distracted me for quite a good portion.

Before we left on Sunday morning, the kids received their Easter baskets.  I completely forgot to take a group or family picture.  That’s just the kind of year is has become.  I am just going with it cuz there’s nothing else I can do!

Above: Louis

Below: Graham

Above: Zeke

Below: Angelina

Above: Dash

 

The photo above is the only ‘group’ photo I have of the kids and it’s not very good!  They are in constant motion, as you can see and were very excited to get going on the egg hunt (pics below of Louis & Dash with my brother Doug and his son).

By 9am and quite a bit of prodding, we were in the suburban and headed to Bismarck.  Uncle Eric (with the help of Grandma & Grandpa Golden Acres) hosted dinner and a bunch of games for the kids and their cousins.  They enjoyed an egg hunt, Easter basket hunt and kite flying.   There was also plenty of running, farm toys for the little boys and a few new games to try out with Grandpa.  Of course, we had a wonderful dinner – baked ham, patio potatoes, corn, a variety of other salads and sides.  Dessert, served by Uncle Eric, was Strawberries and Cream on Angel Food Cake.  After an afternoon of visiting, there was of course an evening meal…and no, it was not leftovers!  Eric and I needed more caffeine (Coke & Dr. Pepper) just to keep ourselves awake on the trip home.

Hope you had a Happy and Blessed Easter!

Cross Suckers for Easter

This was actually a lot of fun…just don’t get distracted while your crosses are in the oven, or they’ll be a big blob!

2 bags of Jolly Ranchers

1 bag sucker sticks (had them on hand)

Graham sorted them by color for us.  Please go to Catholic Icing for complete directions and better pictures…there just wasn’t time for good pics during the process…too many helpful helpers!  I think this would be a great gift for religious education students, too.

Let them cool and wrap in plastic.  Cute addition to Easter baskets or gifts for cousins on Easter Sunday.