Weiner Sale!

So, I’m scrolling through my inbox when I see an e-mail from Spirit Airlines with the subject “Have you seen our Weiner?”   I had to laugh and open the e-mail to see exactly what this was about.  A sale in honor of Congressman Weiner and his recent internet adventures?  Of course!  So inappropriate that it looks like something that you might find on The Onion (viewer beware!).  I reacted by, well, laughing:

I can only imagine how this marketing idea came to be.  Happy hour after work with the boss?  Well, maybe, but it was probably more of a two day drinking binge because today I received this in my inbox:

Hilarious. 

For my Mom

I have been intending to write a post about my mom this month in honor of her birthday and Mother’s Day (um…both in the past.).  I am a busy person.  It’s not an excuse—it’s the truth. 

My mom is awesome.  Yeah, yeah, I know that most people say that about their mom’s too—and it’s true—but this is my mom.  I’ve heard that people appreciate their moms more the older they get and even more after they have children and it is the truth.  So, in the 15 minutes of free time that I do have, I give you things that I appreciate about my mom:

1. Her patience.  Six kids?  Patience.  40+ years of marriage?  Patience.  And, who but a patient person can teach junior high for 20 years?  Ick. 
2. Her faith.  It was my mom that gathered us together EVERY night to pray and gathered us around to say that rosary and have Bible trivia.  I still have memories of her on her knees praying the rosary in her room.  She laid a foundation for us to build on (if we chose to…).  She has always been totally committed to her faith which I admire and it means so much to me now. 
3. Her sense of humor.  How else can you survive watching your kids grow up and getting a front seat to every decision (good and bad) they will make on the way?  She cracks me up—I’ll never forget when my brother and I were talking about a ghetto (probably where we used to live) and my mom broke out with the West Side Story finger snap.  Totally mom.
4. Her stength and commitment.  Enough said.
5. I love that our kids love her.  Of course, bribing with dolls and books always helps.  :)  Seriously, it's one of the few people outside of Joe & I that can comfort our kids. 

I will always remember the story that she tells when she was pregnant—I can’t remember if it was baby #4 or #5—when somebody looked at her and said something to the effect of “don’t you know where babies come from?”*  She just laughs about it.  The ability to take people in stride—that’s what I’m talking about.  J

I just hope that when my girls are older, they can be as close to me as I am to my mom. 

*Funny, at our current church, 4 or 5 children families are the small families.  It usually means that there only halfway there….

Cecilia-isms and More Fun

If having a toddler has reinforced any idea, it is definitely that patience is a virtue.  I used to fancy myself a patient person—but there is nothing like a hard headed (gets that from her dad…) two year old to prove me wrong.  But, where my children can really try my patience at times, most of the time, they make my heart sing.  They can make me smile, laugh, and burst with pride without any warning.  Watching Cecilia develop over the last few months has been so much fun—she is becoming really agile and her language skills have skyrocketed.  Toddlers have no filters which makes it even more entertaining.  The following are some of my favorite phrases:

“Mom Kiss It!” 

So funny because it sounds like she is telling me off when she says it.  With her rate of injury, this is heard constantly throughout the day.  And just because your “boo-boo” is days old or even completely disappeared, don’t think that it is forgotten!

“Smell Bottoms”

Dad has taught us the concept of smell by teaching us to smell flowers.  It’s really cute.  But, I’m learning that you REALLY have to watch what you say around Cecilia these days.   I’m sure it started when I made an offhand remark while changing Anna one day—something about her bottom smelling—which translated to Cecilia that she should smell her bottom.  Yeah, well, I had to explain that we don’t smell bottoms but it doesn’t stop her from running over and saying this phrase every time I give Anna a diaper change.  

“It’s Whining.”

We’ve been working on the concept of whining—well, I should say NOT whining.  I think that she gets it now.  We were at the park the other day and a boy wanted to use her shovel but the mom made him give it back.  He didn’t like that and started whining to which Cecilia pointed out (over and over) “It’s whining” while waiting for me to do something about it (i.e. time out).   

She LOVES the slide and does not seem to have much fear.  She had zero problem climbing to the top of this slide and sliding down yelling “WEEEEE!!!!” the whole way. 

And Anna, oh my precious baby...  She now manages to explore a room by rolling and rotating her not so little body around.   (Has it been 6 months already since she was born?!?)  Her laugh makes me laugh and she laughs a lot, especially at her big sister.  If I’m ever feeling a little sad, I give her a tickle to cheer me up.  J  And this girl LOVES to eat.  All. Of. The. Time.  The other day, I set the spoon down to get something and when I turned around, she had grabbed it out of the bowl and had a spoonful of oatmeal in her mouth.  She looked at me as if to say, “Well, I was tired of waiting for you, lady!” 

Her latest trick is trying to crawl.  She managed to get herself up on all fours repeatedly today.  (Insert slight panic attack at the thought of having two mobile children.)  She was so proud.  So was I. 

Infusion of Grace

I have been wanting to write about the experience that I had at the Easter Vigil this year but have been struggling how to frame it.  I still don’t know so I’m just going to start with this—it was amazing.  The grace that God pours out on me never ceases to amaze me and leaves me standing in awe of his almighty presence in my life. 

I had the honor of being the sponsor for my good friend who was being brought into the church.  It was awesome to see her excitement and to see the pure joy in her eyes after both being confirmed and receiving the Eucharist for the first time.  She was walking on air, in total love with our Lord—it was truly inspiring. 

So, I could write about what was so amazing—the music, the total abandonment in the worship, seeing the church brought back to life during the Gloria, the Alleluia (oh how we have missed thee!), the great message of the homily, etc, etc—but I could never do it justice.  What I will say is that the Holy Spirit moved through me like I have never experienced.  There were moments when I was just blown away and, yes, even a little bit baffled by what I was experiencing.  It all come down to this—God is faithful, He loves us, and infuses us with grace when we least expect it (but need it the most).  And for that, I am forever grateful!

Winding Down Winter

Moan of despair…..that’s what was heard in our house when we heard that it was going to snow Sunday night.  Ok, so it’s officially spring, but we live in Michigan which means that anything goes weather wise.  Just one week prior, it was 80 degrees!  I had to dig through our closet for SUNBLOCK for the kiddos and, then, snow?  Well, no matter what the weather, our kids are still growing like weeds, learning new skills, and making us smile and laugh every day.  

A couple of weeks ago, we had a visit from my best friend/sister and she brought along the newest cousin.  Anna really studied him.  This picture was taken after she rolled over to him to get a closer look. 

She's really into rolling over and wiggling around to maneuver to something that she wants.  She can even be found occasionally sleeping on her tummy now.  

Then, we had our 80 degree weather (day).  It reminded me of how much Cecilia LOVES the park and being outside.  She really likes it when dad puts her at the top of the BIG slide and she gets to slide down (the little daredevil.)  This is her after she found a bottle full of sand that she had to play with.  And, no, she is not sunburned--she just gets that red from the heat!

Anna loves the swing.  I put her and Cecilia side by side and they just LOVE it.  They laugh and have a good time and I get a little bit of an arm workout in.  Seriously, is this not the cutest, happiest baby ever?  

The latest fun toy in our house is the exersaucer.  Woo-hoo!  I’m excited because I’ve wanted one but haven’t wanted to pay for one.  Fortunately, our friends were liquidating all of their baby stuff and sending the message that they are done having kids so we scored this bad boy for FREE!  (Thank you!)  Anna is beginning to warm up to it.  It’s a good thing that Cecilia is around to show her how to use it.  

Oh….and to use it herself.  This girl cracks me up. 

My Random Run

Last night was a close to perfect night to run.  I hadn’t planned on running but, after putting the little ones to bed, I had a knot between my shoulders that couldn’t be ignored and I was feeling not quite myself.  So, my awesome husband cleaned up the kitchen so that I could put my shoes on for a night run. 

I didn’t realize until I had started that it had been over 2 WEEKS since my last run!  Despite that, it felt awesome and I reflected on what I love about running—the cool air filling my lungs, the feeling of my feet pushing off of the pavement and being airborne for a split second, the stress melting away….ahhhh.  As the stress melted away, I rocked out to this song:

I discovered this artist through one of my new favorite blogs.  I listened to it twice and this is the line that just kept moving me:  “It’s Your sacred heart within me beating, Your voice within me singing out.”  How awesome to remember that God is within me every second of the day, even on a run. 

Culinary Conquests

Last Friday was Joe’s birthday.  He has the privilege of having his birthday fall during Lent 90% of the time but this year he also had the privilege of having it fall on a Friday.  His late night at work combined with his fasting had us celebrating his birthday on Saturday.  Since we weren’t going out to eat, I decided to try my hand at the first meal that I ever made for him—Caper Stuffing Roast—and to make him the desert that he has talked about since we met—a Sacher Torte. 

Caper Stuffing Roast

Some of my friends think that I am a good cook and I say that I am only as good as the recipe that I’m following.  8 years ago, a couple days before Valentine’s Day, I called my brother and asked him for a recipe that would impress Joe but was within my skill level.  I’m pretty sure that he made this recipe up as we talked something that always impresses me.  I remember being somewhat underwhelmed by the caper stuffing so, this time, I found a new caper stuffing recipe.  The combination of his marinade with this stuffing made the roast De-li-cous!

Marinade:

Beef Broth

1 cup Red Wine

1 medium onion

1 medium tomato

Garlic

Salt

1 tbsp thyme (I used basil instead)

1 tbsp pepper

Slice roast flat and marinate overnight.

Caper Stuffing

1 cup bread crumbs

¼ cup capers

1/8 cup green onion

1/8 cup parsley

1 tsp salt

Pour blend of 1 beaten egg + 3/8 cup cream over top and mix

Roll stuffing into roast, place with flap down and skewer.  Pour marinade over roast.  Cook roast at 300º until it has reached a temperature of 160º ladling marinade over the top every so often.  Remove roast from pan.  Mix corn starch with marinade until it has reached desired consistency.  Slice roast and pour sauce over the top. 

Sacher Torte

I got the sacher torte recipe from here.  The reviews were really good and for a good reason.  I was a little intimidated by the recipe at first but it really was easy and turned out to be really good.  The one thing that I do recommend is to not pinch pennies when it comes to they type of chocolate that you choose.  This cake is basically just chocolate, egg, and butter so if you use cheap chocolate it may not be as good (I’m guessing.).   

                                 The presentation may be lacking but it was still tasty.