Spring Break

This week, Mr. Cat is on spring break from college.  He is a dedicated student with a full course load, plus tutoring, plus president of a political science group, plus he is a Knight of Columbus.  Along with all of that, he is a wonderful and amazing father and husband.  I am very proud of him and honored to be his wife.  Since he has a week of freedom from the grind, we are spending the week together doing fun family things.  I will be back sometime next week. 

Meat Free Fridays - Pi Day!

Since today is Pi day (3-14) we are going to have celebrate it with dinner "pies" (because we are nerdy like that).  I actually had something else planned on the menu that was not pie-like, but last night, Mr. Cat came home from his Knights of Columbus meeting with a dozen fresh eggs from a friend.  I want to make sure to use them up in a tasty way, so we are having a crust-less broccoli and cheese quiche.  I think it fits along nicely with the theme.

I will sauté the broccoli in a pan with some onion, and then put that on the bottom of a pie dish.  I will beat up the eggs (not sure exactly how many we will use, since the eggs are of varying sizes) along with some herbs and some cheese and pour over the broccoli.  Then it just bakes at 350 until the eggs have set, usually between 30-45 minutes.  Breakfast for dinner is something we love here, and quiche is always a yummy dish!

Mini me is making an apple crumb pie for Pi day dessert.  (No one in our family gave up sweets for Lent.)  I told her she should cut the pie into 3.14 oz. slices.  She kind of glared at me after that.  I kind of wonder if we are the only geeky family who does something fun for Pi day.  I probably don't want to know the answer. 

*And as the nerds we all are, we are more excited for next year when the date will be 3-14-15.  Told you we were nerdy!*

The Little Things Thursday - this week's smiles

I am pretty easy to please.  I like simplicity.  I am not particularly a frou-frou or bells and whistles kind of person.  For the most part, I am all about function.  There are of course exceptions to this, but it doesn't take much to make me smile.  It is the little things.  I think sometimes as busy people, we (generally speaking) forget to stop and smile at the little things, and reflect on them.  I have decided to start a weekly "Little Things Thursday" to have a place to document my week's little things. 

For some reason today, I am full of smiles at little things.  I thought I'd share a few. 

Seeing Gift come out of her room this morning dressed in a pair of pants my mom made, that really made me smile.  I miss her so very very much, and I am so thankful to have little reminders of her.

On that note, praying on the rosary that my mom gave me for my birthday two years ago, the last birthday I had with her alive.  It is so special to me, and I use it daily, and I think of her each time I pray it.

We have a lot of crazy and silly little conversations that always keep me joyful.  The girls are very entertaining.  This morning we were having a conversation about compliments and how to receive them.  One child who shall not be named has a habit of, when complimented on her appearance, especially by her family, say things like, "Oh, that's not true."  or "You are so wrong."  (It's a phase, I am sure, since I went through the same thing.)  Another child who shall not be named has a habit of pushing peoples buttons and saying things that she knows annoys her siblings.  Anyway, we were talking about what to say when someone compliments you, even if you don't believe them, so as to be polite.  Joyful (who is prone to not "getting" most social niceties) said, "If a girl tells me I look pretty, I say, thank you, so do you.  If a boy tells me I look pretty I say <insert smirky smile here> thannnnnnnnks!"  We were all cracking up. 

Gift made me smile when she asked a sister to sharpen a crayon for her and she told her, "It's okay if you have to take the skin off." 

I love being able to open the windows today and air out the apartment.  Those days are going to quickly come to an end here in FL. 

I love that each week, Mr. Cat takes the little one to her story group and the older girls to choir and I have a blessed hour and a half to myself.  Last night I smiled because he was able to stop at the farmers stand on his way home and we had a huge local fresh salad with dinner.

So, those are some things that made me smile this week, things that weren't exponential in the big sense, but they were to my heart.  These are mostly from the last couple of days, because I have a rotten memory, but in the future, I will try to keep track of things through the whole week, and post them each Thursday.

I'd love to hear from some of you.  What are your "little things" this week?

Big News for Mini Me

I am not ready to share the details in a public forum at this time, but mini me received some wonderful and amazing news today about an upcoming opportunity.  I am so incredibly excited for her, and so greatly blessed by this even being a possibility for her.  We are truly where we are by God's providence right now and He has done some very amazing things for our family.  Please keep the oldest girly in your prayers for things to work out smoothly and for her to be prepared on all levels.  Thanks!

We've got the "Time Change Blues"

This daylight savings time kind of snuck up on us.  I didn't even realize it until one of the kids told me it was on their calendar.  Whoops!  For some reason, losing an hour has really thrown us off our routine. 

We didn't get home from St. Augustine until late Saturday night, and by the time we got everyone in bed, it was past midnight with the time change.  We still got up at our usual time on Sunday for Mass, but we were all dragging.  Every single one of us was tired all day Sunday.  The girls worked extra hard last week on school work, so were ahead for this week, so we took Monday off to ease back into routine.  It was nice to have a relaxing day around the house.  Everything got picked up and prepared for Tuesday morning. 

Except for us.  We were not ready.  Everyone over-slept from our usual time and we got started way later than we normally do.  Not a problem with home schooling, since we are on our own schedule, but I was still surprised by how thrown off we are by a measly hour change.  I am noticing that we aren't even hungry at the new times we would have meals, but rather an hour later.  Last night's dinner was way late because even though it was made, no one was hungry. 

I have got to get back on track.  After school work was done and we had some afternoon quiet time (something I have instituted partly because living in such close quarters, we really need a designated time where people have some time to themselves and have a break from each other), the girls went outside for some fresh air, roller skating, and jogging.  I made dinner, they came in and we ate.  Chores were finished up and baths taken and we were actually ready for evening prayers at a reasonable time.  They had enough time for some reading before bed, and I now have some down time as well.  My goal is to get to bed myself at a reasonable hour so I can wake myself up on time and make sure everyone else is as well. 
I'd love to hear how the time change affects others, and what you do to help.  We don't normally have any big difference (other than mom and dad being tired from missing an hour of sleep) but this time is different for some reason.  I am pondering why.  The only thing different is that we had a late Saturday and a busy weekend with our trip. 

Mission Nombre de Dios - Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche

This is by and far my favorite part of our trip.  If a friend hadn't told us about, we wouldn't have known.  I am so glad that we knew because it was such a special and beautiful place.  There is a lot of history and information about it here.  It really is beautiful and there were many parts that were just breathtaking.  They also have a great gift shop with a large variety of gifts, statues, and books. 

Our Lady of La Leche is Our Lady of the milk.  The statue is the Blessed Virgin Mary nursing the infant Christ.  I am a mother, and I nursed all four of my daughters.  Nursing them was a natural thing, and I have always been an advocate of breastfeeding and natural parenting.  Knowing that there was a shrine with a depiction of Our Lady nursing Jesus was exciting to me.  I know how much I love my children.  I know the special bond between infant and mother, especially through the breastfeeding relationship.  I already know that the Virgin Mary and Jesus had a special and unique bond but seeing this depiction, it just....I don't even know the words really.....it just struck me.  I am well past the infant and breastfeeding years with my girls, but that bond is still there, just as that bond between Mary and Jesus is still there, and that bond between Jesus and us, and the bond between Our Lady and us.  It is truly a beautiful thing.

I am not going to post much more about our visit here, the pictures speak for themselves, but I do want to say how beautiful the chapel was.  I was able to purchase a candle in the gift shop, and light a candle for my mother, who I lost this past July.  Anything that reminds me of the bond between mother and child is especially near and dear to my heart after losing my own mom.  Even as an adult, I still need my mom, and as Catholics and Christians, we still need our Blessed Mother.  This was a great reminder, and also a reminder of how Mary can also give me comfort from the sorrows I have from the loss of my own mother. 

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the Shrine:

 

 This is the chapel:

 

 Blue candle in the center for my Mother

 

 The many candles showing the many intentions lifted up in prayer

 The rustic altar

 This large cross on the water is just beautiful

 A moment of sisterly love captured on camera:

 This is a side view of the chapel:

 The family:

St. Augustine Trip - Part 2

On Saturday morning, we woke up earlier than I would like to on a vacation, but we had a schedule to keep.  Free all you can eat Pirate Pancakes started at 7:30 (we were advised to get there at the beginning of breakfast time since the kitchen is incredibly small and our family would fill it) and Mr. Cat also had to get ready to present his paper.  We headed to the kitchen, where an old pirate made us all designed pancakes.  The girls all got pirate pancakes, complete with eye patches.  Mr. Cat and I got ones with our names on them (though mine was plural for some reason, lol).  I didn't get a picture of the pancakes because they were eaten too quickly.  There was milk and coffee to drink, lots of syrup, and even fresh strawberries.  The pirate had some great stories to tell, and there was a fellow hostel patron who also had tales to tell of his cycling trip.  It was a really fun atmosphere and the kids all remarked that they felt like they were eating breakfast with family.  It really was great.  Part of the hostel experience was stripping the beds and rolling up the sheets, and the kids said it reminded them of sheet washing day at our house, lol.  It was a very comfortable place to stay, and we were sad to leave. 

Mr. Cat decided to drive the van to the college (which it turned out was only a couple of blocks away) because he was wearing his "monkey suit" and the girls and I decided to just walk around.  We decided we would call ourselves the accidental tourists for the day, and we would go wherever our feet and our whims decided to take us.  We had seen some shops the day before that I knew they were interested in looking around at, so we headed in that direction.  It was only around 9:30, and most of the places were closed.  I was rather thirsty, so we went into the bunnery and I ended up just getting water.  Everything smelled so good, and when I had seen it, I had fully intended on going there to eat something, but I was still stuffed from the pancake I had eaten.  We sat on a bench while drinking our water.  It was so far pretty quiet where we were because people were lining up on other streets in preparation for the St. Patrick's Day parade.  We enjoyed hearing an accordion player as we walked on.  We stopped in one shop where I got a pretty cloth headband, and some cheese flavored larva worms for Old Soul who is somewhat of a daredevil and has been wanting to try some kind of insect for a while.  Don't ask.  LOL. 

We walked over by the St. Augustine Cathedral, but Mass was going on at the time.  If we had planned better, we would have gone to Mass there in the morning, but we didn't, so we walked on and decided to come back later.  We caught the tail end of the parade but not a lot of pictures.  We saw storm troopers in kilts, and period soldiers who were firing off rifles that were scaring the wits out of Joyful.  We sat down at a table by a café and I was able to grab out the camera and take a few pics, but none of them very good.  I caught some kilt wearers, the Ghostbuster car, a bit of stay puff marshmallow man, and a lady in green on a horse. 

We walked some more and ended up heading back towards the shopping area.  I was starting to feel shaky at this point and knew I needed to grab a snack.  I have been having some issues with my blood sugar regulation off and on, and sometimes it does something wonky.  I am usually at home, and although I have tried various things to eat to fix it, I still don't have a good solution yet.  Anyway, I usually don't eat breakfast and have a smoothie with some protein powder, greek yogurt, and some spinach instead, certainly not pancakes with syrup.  I wasn't sure what I was going to eat, but then we walked by a place called French Fry Heaven.  I glanced at the menu, which was full of many many different ways to have French fries with various toppings.  Lo and behold, they had a "Canadian" version, which was probably as similar to poutine as you will ever find in America.  The girls and I decided to split two orders between us.  If you aren't sure what poutine is, click here.  It is cheesy, gravy covered goodness.  They came in paper cones and outside they had tables with little holes in them perfect for sitting the cone.  They also came with little wooden forks, but they were quickly tossed aside.  I was amazed at how quickly they disappeared.  Gift has a sensory issue with her hands and feet.  With her hands, she absolutely does not like to be sticky or dirty.  She cannot stand anything to be on her hands.  At meal times, she uses a ridiculous amount of paper napkins if that is what we are using at the time.  She is a major hand washer, and has even declined sweet or sticky items when out away from a sink because she'd rather forego a treat than get sticky hands.  This girl of mine, she reached all the way down into the paper cone to get the last dregs of poutine out.  Her hand was covered in gravy and she still dug for more.  It was so odd to see her standing there with a brown gravy hand.  The novelty wore off as soon as the poutine was gone however and I had to do a big clean up job on her.  Here is our tasty treat.  Mr. Cat was not amused that he missed this part of our day.

We had seen a Greek Orthodox Shrine, the Shrine of St. Photios the night before.  We walked by it again and decided to go in and take a peek.  Beautiful iconography can be seen in Greek Orthodoxy and we were not disappointed in what we saw.  There was a woman who was a member there who gave us a brief history lesson and explained the purpose for the domes, which she said are to bring Jesus closer to us.  She encouraged us to take photos, and so we did.  It was just gorgeous.

After that, we walked back towards the Cathedral since Mass was over and we had an opening to go in.  We spent some time in prayer, and then walked around.  I refrained from taking pictures until I found out that the Tabernacle was in a separate side area.  I love how it was easy to know just where Jesus was by the red Sanctuary Lamp.  Gift's face lit up as soon as she saw it.  After some time for adoration, we continued our tour.  I always feel bad taking pictures inside a church, like I am doing something very wrong.  I will not take a picture where the Blessed Sacrament is present within camera shot.  It is not something I feel comfortable doing for personal reasons.  Many other tourists were taking pictures, and I was torn on whether or not to pull out the camera.  I wasn't going to, until I saw that the altar rails are still up.  All around the altar, there were marble railings, and a padded kneeling area.  It was a beautiful sight.  I don't think I have been in a church with altar railings since we converted to Catholicism.  I don't believe they are common.  I know that in our home parish, the bishop was petitioned to let us put altar rails back up, but it was denied.  Seeing them made my heart smile.  Latin Mass goers will understand. 

After we left the Cathedral, it was about time for Mr. Cat to be calling us.   I stood there for a minute and contemplated what to do.  I had just decided to walk to Flagler College (after realizing that the huge beautiful building I had been seeing the whole time was the school, when he called.  We met him over by the van and dropped off a couple of things and headed back out.  I took a lot of pictures while we were walking.  Rather than go back to the area the girls and I had already traversed, we headed a different direction.  Here are some of the sights along the way:

We found a little out of the way Cuban Café that just happened to have a table for six right inside the door.  We stopped for lunch.  Everyone ordered Cuban sandwiches, which if you haven't had them before, you are missing out.  They have ham, roasted pork, swiss cheese, garlicky mustard, and pickle.  They are on Cuban bread, and then pressed.  The girls all had sweet plantains with theirs, while Mr. Cat and I had Cuban black beans and rice.  It was just so delicious.  The owner was super friendly as well.  With lunch, I had a glass of fresh fruit sangria, which is the best I've ever tasted.  It was a wonderful meal.  When we were done there, we headed to our last and only planned destination (other than the hostel and the school), Mission Nombre de Dios, to see the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche. 

My post will end here since I want to dedicate a whole post to the Shrine.