Oven update

It’s working, thanks to the repairman who came this morning!  Whoohoo! 

Also, the kids really appreciated the 30 – 40 minutes of entertainment, and learned that, besides 2 kids, the repairman has 2 dogs, named Charlie and Lola.  They recommended this book to him, based on his dogs’ names.  And they probably got a whole lot more out of him, too, but I was not following the conversation in as much detail as they were. 

However, it’s definitely nice to have a functional oven, and I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking of all the things I can now bake.  Mmmm. 

What have you been reading?

We’ve been reading a bunch of the Gospel according to St. John, since it’s the Easter season.  We’ve done the road to Emmaus as well as a whole bunch of other stories.  Naomi was clearly considering this today as we had a snack, because she suddenly commented, “I bet if Jesus had said, “Amen, amen, I say to you,” his disciples would have recognized him.”

Things I’ve learned recently

1.  It’s not so great to have one’s oven stop working in the middle of a party…particularly in the middle of baking pies for that party.  (I had already learned that it wasn’t great to have an oven not working.  The party part I probably could have conjectured, but now I know it first-hand.  No need to try it out yourselves, folks!  It’s not fun.)

2.  One can warm up the oven sufficiently with the broiler (which was happily still working so that the chicken for the party could get cooked) to finish baking the pies.

3.  I wouldn’t recommend this as a regular method for baking pies.

4.  It’s annoying to have one’s oven out of commission for over a week.  Especially when it’s one’s new oven.

Here are some examples:

“Mom, can we have biscuits for breakfast?” 

“Sure…Wait!  No, sorry, oatmeal again.” 

OR:

Heck, I’m out of tortillas and bread.  That’s okay, I’ll make cornbread for…Darn, no I won’t.  Well, we don’t really NEED carbs, do we? 

OR: 

Roast chicken…requires the oven.  Okay, new menu plan for THAT night.

5.  Raspberry rhubarb pie is delicious, even when partially cooked in a normal way, taken out of the oven, and then cooked the rest of the way using the remaining heat from the broiler.  It’s probably EVEN BETTER when baked the proper way.  We’ll have to see.  Sometime soon.  I hope. 

6.  Bunnies don’t like their toenails clipped.  At all.

7.  I can clip bunny toenails, whether they like it or not. 

8.  Spring is good.  Okay, this isn’t really something I learned.  But I am appreciating it anew.  (Just ignore the weeds and enjoy the beautiful tulips and swiss chard.  That’s what we do.)

First Communion!

Today was Hannah’s  First Communion.  It was a joyful occasion – thank you to everyone who joined us in celebrating, as well as those who were with us in prayer.  Before Mass it was cloudy and a bit drippy out, but afterwards, the sun came out and it was gorgeous:

Hannah was dressed in a beautiful gown that Aunt Debbie had made for cousin Tricia’s First Communion years ago…Tricia’s graduating from college this month. 

MANY people complimented her on it, and she looked quite lovely.  I may be somewhat biased. 

Last night, as I was lying in bed and trying to go to sleep, I found myself thinking of how exactly to do the hairstyle we’d decided on.  At which point I told myself to GO TO SLEEP ALREADY!

I listened to myself, and I was able to pull off the hairstyle Hannah and I had discussed, thanks to the practice I’ve been getting with hairstyles recently.  Hannah, recognizing the price that beauty sometimes demands, said it was worth the pain (I’m not sure it was all that painful, but I think there were a couple of pulls) and the long time it took (which was about 10-15 minutes), because she really liked how it came out. 

Yesterday Hannah and I went for First Communion practice and to make flower baskets and banners to decorate the church for the occasion.  Each child made a banner for the end of his or her pew. 

Hot glue guns are fun!  Hannah’s banner has the Eucharist, an angel, and two of her favorite saints, Our Lady, Queen of All Saints, and St. Therese of Lisieux.  Also roses and a very lovely ribbon border that had roses on it.

We also had a great time with the flower arrangements.  Ours was made from flowers from our yard:  tulips, bluebells, and lilacs.  I don’t have a picture, but it was really quite pretty.

Fr. Daniel celebrated the Mass and Fr. Christopher preached, and  they both did a fantastic job of highlighting the importance of the Eucharist and our relationship with Jesus.  Fr. Daniel tends to emphasize how little he can relate to children, but he was really eloquent and not at all difficult to understand.  He told them that their Baptism day and their First Communion day are the two most important days of their lives because of the relationship they are building with Jesus, and that they should take care to nurture that relationship their whole lives.  Fr. Christopher preached on how we can easily miss things that we’re not expecting to see (because it was the reading about the disciples on the road to Emmaus), so we should expect to meet Jesus in the Eucharist, as well as in the people around us, so that we can see Him there.  It was a most beautiful Mass.

There were photographers taking family photos before the big event, so we’re hoping those came out.  Simeon had awakened early and was not impressed by most things this morning, so I don’t think he smiled for any of the pictures.  However, given his recent track record with “smiling,” we might be okay with that.  At any rate, maybe soon you’ll get to see a picture of all of us dressed up and all together, smiling or not. 

We had a celebratory gathering this afternoon.  No pictures were taken, but a good time was had by all.  Someone gave Hannah a book, though, so about 3/4 of the way through, she disappeared into her new book.

A couple of quotes from Hannah about the day:

“First Communion is like a birthday, only better, because you have Jesus inside of you.”

“I feel joyful and solemn.”

“I can hardly believe that I get to go receive the Eucharist EVERY TIME now!”

All in all, it was a wonderful day.  We are so blessed in our Faith and our family and our community, and are so happy to have Hannah as a communicant now!

Life changes

with children.  This morning, Hannah said to me:

“For Mother’s Day, you have to sleep in as late as you want.  Maybe even to 7:30, or 8:00!”

Morning people

Some of my family is made up of morning people.  I’m not included in this group.  Naomi isn’t either.  Simeon…well, the jury is still out.  Some mornings with him are great and some are…not so great.  Hannah and Michael are both up like toast and rarin’ to go in the morning. 

However, if I sit around and wait until I’m awake and ready to face the day, any potential momentum for the day has dissipated, and all of the kids are doing different things and I’m stuck trying to regroup as the very first thing of the day.  This isn’t a good scene.

So I’ve instituted the early morning bike ride.  Everyone up, dressed, beds made, small snack, out the door. (Well, almost everyone.  Our ride doesn’t include Michael. He takes an early morning bike ride, too, but his starts before ours and goes to the park and ride so he can catch his bus.)  After about 30-35 minutes of riding, we’re all ready to face the day.  We’ve seen the snails at Snail Town (phlox in a bunch of neighbors’ yards seems to attract snails), we’ve enjoyed the morning sun…or sprinkles, we’ve had a chance to work off some excess energy (or wake up as we realize that our legs are moving), and we’re all much more able to do chores, eat breakfast, and get started with school as cheerful, happy family members.  This morning we rode to the library (not open yet at 7:45 a.m.) and returned some books, so we even did an errand!

Now that the spring mornings start so nice and early and the spring weather means that we don’t always have steady driving rain every morning, I think we’ve found something that will help us have better mornings and get some exercise, too.  I have not yet become a morning person, but I figure that this might be a way to get as close as I’ll probably come. 

I can’t actually credit myself with the idea of exercise first thing, though, because I have to admit that most of my ideas about morning are along the lines of, “How late can I sleep and still take adequate care of everyone in the morning?” 

Big step

Simeon’s wearing underwear during the day now!  As long as we make sure not to let him wait too long for the potty, he does really well.  Sharks and turtles on his undies…this is a change from his sisters’ undies, of course, which have flowers and princesses.