Just a few fun things to remember from our Holy Week & Easter...

Spy Wednesday: treasure hunt for the 30 silver pieces representing the ones Judas betrayed Christ for. We used the money to give to the poor.

Tracing and colouring pictures from Holy Week.

 

Our Stations of the Cross we coloured this year. 

  

Mine and Joseph's chalkboard writing to remember the Lenten themes.

Holy Thursday: baking pretzels that recall the Lenten penance of dairy, egg, sugar-free eating and are made in the form of arms crossed in prayer. Colouring Da Vinci's Last Supper. 

Good Friday: the boys' annual Lego recreation of the Passion scene, complete with poor Judas who despaired of forgiveness.

Easter!! An Easter egg hunt. 

 

We spent Easter weekend in Saskatoon and Humboldt. Saturday night was at a great hotel, swimming, eating delivery Pizza Hut, more swimming, and watching Ten Commandments. Sunday morning we attended the Latin Mass for Easter and were blown away by the beautiful music. Sunday afternoon we headed to Humboldt to eat (an amazing Easter supper!), visit, and play with cousins. We arrived home late and tired, but oh so happy! Christ is Risen! Truly!

Notable Easter Kids' Quotes:

Our town Rodeo was on Good Friday.
John Paul: "Probably Jewish people are at the rodeo right now."

Holy Saturday morning:
"What do you want for breakfast?"
Emilie: "I want a meat stick!"

Snippets: Spring? Babies, Birthdays

{one}

March 19th. Spring?

We were siphoning water from our backyard rink around the 19th of April last year. Old Man Weather got our hopes up a bit with an early thaw and backyard draining in March.

{two}

April 6th. Winter?

Thankfully, this snow lasted just a day or two and we're back to semi-Spring weather. We're supposed to get some teen temperatures this week. Woo!

{three} 

I've been on a bread baking kick (or was when I started this post a few weeks ago - time to start a new batch!). Normally, I bake 4 loaves of whole wheat toast bread every week or so with my KitchenAid, but I wanted something additionally as a special bread. After a failed attempt at making my own sourdough starter and then finding out that Dan didn't really like sourdough flavour anyway, I read Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. Game changer! I make a big batch of dough that sits in the fridge. I can have bread or baguettes ready in an hour or so to add to a supper - and it's literally no work! The flavour improves as it sits in the fridge. It's so, so easy and pretty too!

{four}

We had Emma, the dog, visit four different times (John Paul kept record) during the month of March. We all love Emma so much and would keep her if we didn't live in town. But the kids just love her visiting! I think Emma likes us too.

{five}

Uh, baby bump picture, anyone? 21weeks! I'm feeling pretty big all over, but according to this pic (taken at 19 weeks) don't actually look as huge as I feel. I think it's deceiving... Baby is kicking like crazy and I've felt it for at least 7 weeks already, which is much earlier than I remember with any other pregnancy. I'm thinking it must be the soft belly after 3 kids already ;) The kids are super excited that "mommy's getting fatter!" and keep telling me I'm going to win lots of watermelon stickers for my belly this summer (i.e. they like to put the stickers off the watermelon on me when I look like a watermelon).

 

20 week ultrasound

{six}

My other "baby" is getting lots of big girl hair-dos of french braids and pony tails. She is definitely outgrowing her afternoon nap, but still sometimes takes one because mommy is tired and needs to take a nap. When she doesn't nap she'll sleep through the night in her "bunk bed" as she likes to call her crib, but when she does nap... she climbs into bed with mom sometime in the middle of the night. And sometimes, she falls asleep during supper or an afternoon/evening story...

{seven}

I celebrated my 33rd (!) birthday this month. We had great riblets care of Costco (seriously, so yummy!) and leftover birthday cupcakes frozen after John Paul's birthday. Yay!

                                   

{eight}

Funny kids enjoying the sun after a cold winter. I told them we have to work on smiles again :)

  

{nine}
"Blue Day." Brought to you by new Costco spring clothes and crazy kids with an excuse for nuttiness.

 

{ten}

We are limping? groaning? attempting? our way through Lent. Every year I feel like a failure and every year Dan reminds me that I felt that way the year before too. I guess if I felt like I was nailing Lent then I'd be getting proud and failing anyway. I have plans made for Holy Week and am hoping that we can grow in holiness just a little more during this holiest week of the year.

Almost there!

{eleven}

For your entertainment. 

There was that time something special happened...

I always wanted to receive three sacraments in one day. I don't mean simply going to Confession and then receiving the Eucharist twice at two different Masses. I mean three actually different sacraments. 

Only once in my life have I accomplished this grace-filled task. It was precisely nine years ago today. I distinctly remember getting up early in the morning and going to Confession. Afterwards, about 1:30pm, I went to Mass and received Holy Communion.

What was that other sacrament again? It may have been Anointing of the Sick. After all, who isn't sick in some way or another?

Ah yes, it was the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony I received that day. Three in one day. How Trinitarian. I must commemorate this day. With my wife too. Without her it wouldn't have happened.

Thank you wifey, for making my dreams come true.