Holy Saturday at Auntie's

Doesn't this sweet little thing fit right in with my boys?

My cute husband.  He tries to steal our nephew sometimes.  Like, for keeps.

My cute sister and her sweet hubby.

My sweet, sweet Pey.  And a reminder of that 4-digit ortho bill I mentioned previously.

Fun with balloon rockets and giant foam airplanes.

Fruit salad by the fire pit.

Trying to get a ball down out of the tree.  Unsuccessfully.

Post-Vacation Check-In

Well, we're home.

I know I never mentioned that we were leaving, but we did, and now we're back.

There was so much I wanted to post and share during Holy Week, but I was consumed with planning for our vacation, and somehow announcing that our house would be empty for a week didn't seem like the responsible thing to do, so I said nothing.

We left on the morning of Holy Saturday, for my sister's house across the state.  Her husband would be joining the Church at the Vigil and we wanted to be there for it.  We had prayed for so long!!  It was beautiful, and spending time with their family on Easter weekend was an added bonus.  Especially this little guy:

You understand, I'm sure.

Then it was off to the mountains to visit Mr. Smith's side of the family.  Separate vacation post necessary, but here's an idea of our views for the week:

It was a fun and much needed break, but it's good to be home.

Of course now there's the business of re-acclimating ourselves to reality.  Not easy, after 10 days with our beloved Mr. Smith around 24/7.  Ten days of treats and spoiling and fun, chore-free and exciting.

We'll adjust.  I decided today would be a buffer day, no jumping back into school just yet.  We spent the morning on the task of haircuts, all six of the boys.  Now I'm writing a meal plan for the week, so we can get some groceries this afternoon after dropping Bosco off at the groomers.  Somehow doing these regular tasks is making me feel more normal by the minute.  I just may be able to take on this crazy life once again afterall :).

Holy Week

The secular part of our world is tugging at us today, wanting to pull us in different directions, but it can't distract us or make us forget.

We're still focused-

Cleaning up, outside and in, our closets and our hearts...

Carrying each other along when necessary...

Preparing our hearts for this tonight...

 

And this tomorrow...

Praying we're ready to welcome the Light at the Vigil, and the Glory of the Gift...

May your Triduum be quiet and holy, and may the Alleluia bring you peace and joy.

Until Easter, my friends!

Holy Saturday - 2011

On Holy Saturday, we dyed Easter eggs, of course!

Did I mention we were sick?  ;o)

Again, quiet day, not a lot of fuss.  We tried our hand at natural dye this year.  It was a lot of fun and I really love the colors we came out with.  

We basically put our eggs in pans, covered them with water, threw in the dying agent and a splash of vinegar , and boiled/simmered them for 15 mins.  This didn't make for very bright colors, so we took them off the heat and let them sit in the pans for awhile afterward.

 there are eggs under there!

 red cabbage

 beets (I thought these would be pink!)

 a can of cherry pie filling

 instant coffee granules

 frozen grape juice concentrate

 spinach (*the spinach was not giving us any color and I got impatient.  I cheated on this one, there were 3 drops of green food color in with the spinach)

 carrot tops

 we also used chili powder (light orange) and curry powder (yellow)

 aren't they pretty?

These are the eggs we hide once the children are in bed.  They hunt for them, along with their baskets, on Easter morning.