Practice with distraction

Less than a week until school starts. For practice I thought I would try to write my blog while watching "So You Think You Can Dance" and drinking a pitcher of strawberry margaritas. This might have been a worse idea than I thought. But on the good side, it's practice and chances are I would never actually start a homework assignment with the words "drinking a pitcher of margaritas".
Today was Katie's first day of school. She allowed me to take a picture but wouldn't allow me to post it where anyone could see. So here it is...

She really is a gorgeous girl. She is sweet, caring and incredibly smart. But she really hated getting her picture taken this morning. It was her first back to school picture all by herself. The boys don't start until next week. She said they would all pose again next week. She IS the only girl and almost always gets her way.
Important side note: I learned to post pictures!!! I feel kinda silly because it wasn't hard.

Dinner for twenty tonight. I am exhausted!
Let's start with dessert first. I made 18 strawberry cupcakes with beautiful pink strawberry buttercream frosting and 2 dozen chocolate fudge cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting. I seriously need to remember to take pictures. They were gorgeous and delicious. I wanted to make a dessert with candied orange peel... but I cooked it too long and ended up with hard candy. This hard candy became dangerous and I cut my finger on it... for real. Maybe I'll try the candied orange peel again tomorrow (and take pictures).
I made a healthy salad. http://www.shockinglydelicious.com/better-than-trader-joes-kale-and-edamame-bistro-salad/ This is one of my favorites. It tasted great and makes me feel healthy at the same time. It is crunchy and has a lot of color. It was perfect with the barbecued chicken legs and thighs, mashed potatoes and green beans.
This is not a typical dinner menu for me but very traditional and perfect for the twenty priests gathered to celebrate the feast of St. Lawrence.
Not really feeling the whole creative writing thing tonight. Important note to self... my brain does not work well when tired;plan accordingly.
Goodnight!

Body of Christ and a Shiny Dime

I took Sam and Max to Mass by myself this morning. Aaron is still recovering from his minor medical issue. My little boys are very cute and extremely friendly so they usually draw a lot of attention. They have gone to Mass every Sunday all their lives and a few extra times so they are well behaved and generally know what to expect. 

Today was the celebration of the Feast of St. Lawrence meaning there would be an ice cream social afterwards. Ice cream is a perfect bribe for my little guys. as we were entering our pew I reminded them that they need to be extra quiet and listen to to the stories (readings), sing the songs and pay very close attention to Father Dan's story (homily).

The boys did great. Until collection time... Sam had gathered change before we left the house and had designated himself the giver of the quarters and Max would have four coins to give - one of each.They were prepared. The usher presented the basket at our pew but did not realize the boys had offering and passed us. Sam shrieked; the usher came back. Both boys dropped each coin one by one into the basket. All of the older folks in the pews around us were amused. Max dropped a penny on the floor, I waved the usher on thinking we could just deal with the penny later. Max cried but was consoled when I assured him that we could give it to Father Dan later. The sweet elderly lady next to us tried to further console him by giving him a dime, and one to Sam. This started a war. They needed to trade... one was "prettier", "shinier"," bigger". I put one in each of their pockets, reminded them of ice cream, and told them they could give them to Father Dan later. I meant at the ice cream social; not during communion.

We line up in the communion processional. The boys have their arms crossed properly both are walking in front of me... not stopping, not talking, just doing a great job. We get to Father Dan, he offers me the Body of Christ and before I can say Amen, Sam has his shiny dime out and says, "Hey, Father Dan, I have something for you"... Father Dan smiled... I whispered to Sam, "Later, sweetie" and put the dime into his pocket. Crisis averted... This time.

I finished school shopping yesterday. Having four kids- two teenagers and two preschoolers- i think of this event as about the equivalent as a triathlon. In fact I am a little disappointed that there was no medal, trophy, or even applause in honor of my accomplishment. I do realize that this tradition is likely to come to a screeching halt before long.
My oldest son is starting college this year. He will still be living at home but doesn't need mom to buy his supplies or clothes this year. He will most likely not get out of his pajamas for the next year. At least that is his plan for the moment.
My only daughter is a Junior. She still loves the annual ritual of maxxing out Mom's credit card on new clothes that she might wear and supplies to fill her locker. I am sure that she has clothes from last year that still have the tags on them. This year she opted for fewer clothes but nicer (read: expensive) undergarments. I am a firm believer that a nice foundation can help boost confidence. And a teenager needs every boost he or she can get. (I don't believe that all boosts in confidence have a price tag. I do believe that the best boost is encouragement in the form of time.)
The two little boys will both be in preschool this year. The youngest will be starting his first year. They really don't care about clothes or supplies. However, they really enjoy screaming and running through stores. At least at this age they want to join me for the shopping experience. I probably only have another couple of years before they stop caring about my back to school ritual.
Maybe I should begin planning now for what I will do with my extra time when school shopping is done.

Remember my list of topics from the very first post? One of my topics was about how much I love in a town close to everything and seeing randomly seeing family. Today was not so random but one of those heartwarming moments.
Today we buried Aaron's beloved Aunt Eileen. She was the last of Aaron's grandfather's sisters. Only one sibling left of 9. She was a great lady and prided herself in being the family historian. With over 60 nieces and nephews, she had great reason to be proud. She was a very close friend of Aaron's grandmother who passed just two short weeks ago leaving one brother also.
So once again we donned our favorite "dress-up" clothes to go to a funeral. Not the most pleasant of affairs, but not terrible either. For me there is a strong sense of belonging; a strong pride in family ties. Many generations gathering to share goodbyes to our link to the past while moving forward creating bonds with our future.
Both sole siblings were at St. Lawrence Catholic Church for the funeral. Each different with their own memories but ready and willing to share to give the family continuation.

Took a break from writing. That wasn't part of the plan but became necessary as real life spun out of control last week. Lucky for me I am forever an optimist. Things can always look better... life will slow down, right?
I am feeling a little more confident in my writing. It's not that I think I am a great writer. It is more about the excitement that I haven't suffered writer's block yet. In fact I have the opposite issue, I want to write about everything. But that also could be because this truly isn't public. At this point, the blog is out for anyone to read, but I am fairly certain that I am the only one that knows how to find it and the only one interested in reading it.
Katie has been helping by photographing some of my cooking from this past week. I am looking forward to sharing recipes and photos in the very near future. I made a delicious meal of cheese stuffed pork chops with a sage tomato sauce over polenta last night for dinner (inspired by Lydia Bastianich). But, this is a goal... hopefully, in the next few weeks I will be able to comfortably invite you into my kitchen via social media and share the one thing I do best... cooking.

Interesting cooking day... I purchased four beautiful cookbooks from the Interior Objects sidewalk sale. I have always enjoyed reading cookbooks. Now that I cook for the priests I have an excuse to collect them. Lucky for me the books were marked 90% off. Lucky for the priests, I am not intimidated by gorgeous food or recipes with lots of details. I chose to make artichoke ravioli with a garden tomato sauce to serve along side lemon rosemary country style pork ribs. I started with fresh pasta and made the artichoke filling, rolled the pasta filled the raviolis and tossed them in the freezer. I then got called away to take Aaron to the eye doctor. Three hours later was too late to finish dinner.  So it will be served tomorrow night and I will have time to make a crazy delicious dessert. Lemonicello Tiramisu. I am hoping to learn how to add recipes and pictures to my writing. but not today...