Quotables #2

"Anni, you need to behave."

"But I am have!"

"Where did you hear that Anni?"
"I think my cousin Charlie said it 4 centuries ago."
(To which Charlie informed us, he wasn't alive four centuries ago.  Don't worry, it wasn't anything naughty, we just didn't know where she had learned a song.)

"When you don't drink, you get hydrated."

"All my sausages taste like Ireland!"
 Bangers and mash were apparently good on St. Patrick's Day.

"Hey! My feet are not dead anymore!"
 After working in the garden, Daniel and Anni had noted that their feet were dyed grassy green. 

D: "Who sings this song?"
Me: "The Mamas and the Papas."
Anni: "But I think it should be the Nonna's and Papas just like mine!"

"Mommy, Daddy... I like you more in the morning."

365 Photos in 365 Days: Week 17

The girls were SO excited about the carousel.  Anni started asking if she could ride "the round thing" the minute I told her we were going to the zoo (and picnicking where she could see every time it started only increased the desperation).  This was the last round before we climbed on for our own ride!

 

 

Annnnd, another door shot, because it was only one of two photos I took that day.  

This happened.  Actually, I asked Anni if she wanted to learn how to wash dishes and she was all over it.  Daniel should be excited to have a new helper.

Cutest little gardening buddies ever.  Anni very seriously spent most of the time using her itty bitty trowel to scoop whatever I was shoveling.  Colette spent most of the time dropping her sandwich on the ground and then picking it back up and eating it.

We went to a baptism on Sunday (awesome way to celebrate the canonizations!)  Anni was a little antsy to head up to the church, so she was doing an excited and impatient little jig in the doorway.

Oh, just puttin' my shoes on.

 

Tonight, Anni's Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program did a lucernarium (liturgy of light) and a potluck to close out the year.  It's been such a fantastic program for Anni to be a part of this year... I think I'm almost as bummed as she is that it's over until the fall!

Linking up with Catch the Moment at Simply Stavish.

Re-prioritizing

Lately, I've spent far too much in my own head worrying about my weight.  It sounds silly, I know, but I've worried about my weight for as long as I can remember (thank heavens I had a mama and sisters who were always so kind to me about my body, or it would probably be an even bigger issue).  I have really struggled, and failed, to get back to my pre-Lettie pregnancy weight.  I had chipped away a few pounds lately, finally, and this morning, stepped on the scale to see they had all returned.  My poor, dear, husband tried his best to understand my distress, and I just, well, pouted.  While I generally feel we eat well, it could be diet-related, nursing-related, thyroid-related, ugh, so many things.  Well, guess what? 

I quit. 

This is not what I want taking up my brain space in the few sweet years I have with my babies at home.  Yes, I want to be healthy.  Yes, I will continue working out when possible and feeding our family real, healthy, food. Yes, I will request a follow-up blood test to see if my thyroid medicine needs to be adjusted.  No, I am not getting back on that scale. Yes, I'm going to do my darndest to stop noticing that everyone who gave birth at the same time I did looks amazing.

I have two healthy, happy, sweet, little girls.  They don't care what shape I am; they care more if I am happy, and that I have the ability to read to them, sing with them, chase them around the yard, and make them yummy things to eat.

It's time to find happier things to occupy my thoughts, and one of those is shouting for her mama to save her from nap time, so now is as good a time as any.   

365 Photos in 365 Days: Week 16

 

 

Alleluia! Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was wonderful!  We packed a lot into the first day of Easter, and we were all beautifully exhausted at the end of the day.

Anni woke up in a frenzy of excitement, and catching sight of her Easter basket only added to it.  Colette got excited once she realized there were things in the eggs, and that her new favorite treat was included (fruit shredz, kind of like shredded fruit leather... the shape is weird, but the ingredients are few, and the girls like them).

After putting the final sticker on her crown (the cross!), Anni started this refrain, "Jesus came back!  I'm the queen!"
 

Then there was a yummy little breakfast.  I thought of making cinnamon rolls, but I also knew the amount of cooking I had ahead of me, so I went for some super simple 30-minute mini cinnamon rolls, eggs, and bacon (a staple in our home for "good" breakfasts).

Then came getting the girls dressed.  Oh, how I love Easter dresses.  This year, I found these at Carters when they had a sale recently.  I loved that they're simple, sweet, and coordinating, but not matchy-matchy.

I actually had a similairly colored dress ordered.  Alas, it showed up today, Easter Monday... so not quite soon enough to wear it.  I ended up running out and combing the racks at Target for anything, anything, that fit me and didn't make me feel like a super frump.  I was dressed, and it was bright and happy, so that's about all I could ask, I suppose.  Daniel wore his brand-new suit.  He has offered to wear it everyday after seeing my reaction.  (He looks so. good. I mean, he's handsome all the time, but in a suit?  I am tempted to take him up on the wearing it all the time offer.)

Mass was packed full, so awesome!  Colette slept through the entire thing (double awesome, as she is a super wiggler when awake for Mass), and we brought the Busy Bible for a little extra help for Anni with the long Mass.  Daniel's parents met us there, so it was wonderful to have us all together to celebrate the most important part of the day.

Daniel showed Colette the egg she decorated yesterday.  She immediately tried to bite into it.   

Anni has been waiting so sweetly for these since we started making them last week!  Our little Easter cookie display:

Then there was the much-awaited Easter egg hunt. Before we headed outside, I reminded Anni that this was Colette's first hunt, so to leave a few for her.  She replied, "Okay.  But I'll probably find the first egg."  Well, okay, then.

And, find she did!  Daddy and Papa did a great job finding fun, creative, but not impossible, spots.  It was so fun to see Anni catch sight of them.

And Colette?  Well, we needn't have worried.  I helped her find an egg, and she was happy.  Papa and I both offered to help her find more, and she politely demurred, choosing instead to sit and hit two eggs together.

Sister kept on hunting, eventually declaring her basket to be "sooooo heavy."

And that's how Colette ended up with a big ole pile of eggs that she did her best to crack open and ingest whatever she found before she got caught.

After that, there was a game of hide-and-seek and catch, but it was also crunch time for the meal, so I was in the kitchen finishing off the spread.  I'm pretty proud of it, as I'm not generally very good at fulfilling all of my plans for a big meal.  I managed to finish two roast chickens, mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus and homemade rolls (my wonderful mother-in-law also brought salad and fruit salad to top us off).  After dinner and a walk around the block, I made some quick shortcakes, and we had strawberry shortcake with fresh whipped cream (we nearly always had strawberry shortcake for Easter or around Easter when I was little, so it was a must in my book!)

 

Happy Easter!  So much more celebrating to do!

Linking up at What I Wore Easter Sunday.