Lest I Forget

We just got back from visiting my family last night. It was wonderful. I'm popping in briefly to say that I hope everyone had the merriest Christmas and wondering what this weekend holds! How will you ring in the new year? I am asking because I need ideas.

Excited that I could possibly finish Olivia's pair of fingerless gloves this past weekend, I left my knitting on the couch, which in hindsight was not the best idea. Therese, being 15 months old, thought it looked awfully interesting and started to play with my knitting. Quickly, I grabbed up the glove and yarn and moved it on top of the mantle. Later that night, I put on the fireplace, got all cozy in my favorite chair and prepared to finish the last few rows. Only the fifth needle was missing. Guessing that it fell between the couch cushions, yet not wanting to leave my cozy spot, I asked Olivia to check. She triumphantly lifted half of a needle in the air as I heard a tiny cracking sound. The other end had caught in the fabric and it snapped right in half!  I am awaiting a replacement set of needles from Knitpicks. Meanwhile, I made a little something for someone's stocking. Sometimes she reads over my shoulder while I am typing, so that is all I can reveal for now. ...

This morning started out like any other. Tousle-headed and in great need of a haircut, Jack shuffled into our room just as I was waking up. I had been hearing Olivia getting ready for a while, but laid there for a little bit, asking for God's guidance this day and relishing the warmth of the blankets. I took Jack's hand and we walked down the steps together to the kitchen and each had a glass of orange juice. From above came the coos and giggles of Therese in her crib. Those are some of the sweetest sounds, by the way. I peeked in her room and saw her sticking her foot out between the slats of the crib. I snuck in and tickled those little toes. She gave me a big grin and I scooped her up and hugged her tight. Back down the steps we went and looked at books while she sat on her potty. No success in that department, I put a nice fresh diaper on her and went to the kitchen again to start breakfast. Anna wandered in about this time. After I got them all fed, I sat down to check my...

Several years ago, I first heard the story of Juan Diego and how Our Lady appeared to him. Ever since, I have had a special place in my heart for Our Lady of Guadalupe. Her image is so beautiful, so serene and gentle. Today, along with two other families, we celebrated her feast day. I found all the ideas for our tea here.  We began our morning with a reading of this book.  It was so nice to have the kids all gathered together, while I sat in the cozy chair and read the story. I will admit it is very hard to read upside down! How else can the children all see the pictures though? Then we moved into the kitchen to have our tea. The kids all loved the sombreros. OK, so this might be a stretch, but they were gobbled up and more were made! The ham roses in the tortilla 'tilma' was so cute. I was amazed that most of the kids actually drank tea! Only the littlest ones had apple juice.  Our 'sombreros'. Pringles and string cheese.  The table as I was ...

If I had any talent as a blogger, I would set up 2 columns, side by side so you could easily see how I make changes to our recipes, to accommodate two people who are dairy and soy intolerant. Jack is almost 5 now, and can tolerate some dairy, just not every day, and it is best if it is baked into something and not straight up dairy. Therese, who is 15 months, is still much more sensitive, and I have to be very careful. I found a recipe on foodgawker a while back that looked yummy, but was filled with forbidden ingredients, so I kept putting off making it, till tonight. It was easy to fix and the results were most delicious. I will note that I doubled the ingredients since this said it only served 2, and made some collard greens as a side. Sweet Corn, Bacon & Tomato Tart Crust 2/3 c. all-purpose flour 1/8 tsp. salt 4T. cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks 1T. + 1t (or more) cold water [Here I made a batch of my biscuit dough instead. The ingredients are simply: 1 cup ...