Saturday, April 30, 2011

A Royal Wedding 109/365

So today was the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.  When I first heard about it I didn't think I'd really be that interested in it. Even up until a couple days ago I wasn't even sure if I was going to watch it.

But of course I got caught up in the excitement of it all.

I was especially inspired by my Sister-in-law, Annie, who has been keeping up on the wedding news since day one. She was even interviewed on the radio about her take on the wedding and got up at 5am today to watch it at a pub with champagne and wedding cake.

Our Royal Wedding celebrations were not so fancy but we still had fun.  We did get up at 3am to watch the start of the coverage...But it was still two hours till the wedding so we went back to bed. When we did get up to watch the wedding we had English scones and coffee for breakfast.
(My mom bought me this cup at Buckingham Palace, it's part of the Royal Collection to celebrate the Queen's Coronation Anniversary)

Even baby got up early to watch the wedding...
She liked the music the best
And she liked the waving. When the Prince and Kate were driving and waving she thought it was great fun to wave back at them.
She also enjoyed the scones very much.

And since we were all being happy and silly anyway, I got out my wedding veil and wore it. William took and edited this picture with his iPhone.
I know alot of people have been compaining about the coverage that the wedding got. But like they said in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 
Harry:"It seems a bit silly to be having a wedding with everything that's happening"
Hermione: "Maybe because of everything that's happening is why we should have a wedding"
There's alot of crap going on in the world right now, so it's rather nice to have a royal wedding to offer some distraction and some joy.  Weddings are joyful and hopeful celebrations. And that's just what we could all use right about now.

So many blessings on the newly married couple. We wish you joy and love and happiness...
 and lots of beautiful babies.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Another Beautiful Thursday 108/365

Spring in this area continues to amaze me, as does how my baby girl grows more beautiful every day.



Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Rainy Day 107/365

She was very happy to be outside.

She did not like getting her feet wet
She was a little sad about her wet feet.
But then she discovered she could float things in the water and sink them with her stick. She liked that very much.
She loves being outside in any weather.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Two Days with Baby Girl 105 - 106/365

My baby girl never liked the bottle. I only tried it a few times, but she wasn't a fan. My mom has been bottle feeding one of our goats and the other night Baby Girl went to watch. Ever since then she's been asking for a bottle. Now at 18 months she loves her bottle.  Silly baby.
More than anything else, Bonnie Rose loves to be outside.

We made hamburgers tonight. They were glorious.
William took these two amazing pictures of Rosie yesterday.

EASTER 104/365

Easter was lovely. I think this was the first time I've ever had post Easter blues. It was really fun going to church every day of the week and really celebrating the Easter Season and it made Easter day feel so much more special when it finally arrived.

After Easter Mass there was an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Baby was a little confused but she studied the other kids and had fun.

She enjoyed picking of the brightly colored eggs and playing with them. She didn't know what the candy inside was and that was just fine with me.



Father Michael led amazing services all week
I made Easter Baskets for Aunt Mae and Mom and William
We had a wonderful lunch of Cornish game hens, carrot soup with dill cream, deviled eggs, Saffron rice, Aunt Mae's amazing cranberry salad, spring greens, creamed spinach and my mom's homemade ginger ale.
It was a feast! Naturally we had too much food but it was a holiday and that's what you're supposed to do on holidays. Plus we didn't have to make dinner that night so that was nice.
 I couldn't find Dark Chocolate Easter bunnies for William's Basket so my mom made some. I put cotton candy behind them to prop them up and be their tails.
And for her Easter gift Baby Girl got gardening tools and a watering can with some of her own seeds. She was very happy about them.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Good Friday and Holy Saturday 102 -103/365

Good Friday is the day that Christians celebrate the day that Jesus died on the cross.  If you've never been to a Good Friday service at a Catholic church I highly recommend it. If you've never kissed the foot of the cross...you should.
Holy Saturday is the day that we "wait at the tomb" for Christ to rise from the dead.  Protestants don't do anything for Holy Saturday but Catholics really know how to celebrate our Lord.

If there's one time you ever visit a Catholic church I would recommend this service. It's hold after dark and starts with a bonfire and a "blessing of the fire." How can anything that involves fire not be awesome.
Blessing the Fire

A candle light service
"This is the night when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin!

This is the night when Christians everywhere are washed clean from sin and freed from all defilement, are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night, when Jesus broke the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave. "

The fire is let to burn it self out
This is also the night when all the decorations and candles and holy symbols are put back at the front of the church and the crucifix and other statues in the church are unveiled (they were covered all week and at a very joyful time in the service all the covers were ripped off. it was very fun).


The over all theme of the night was the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus and the joy of knowing him and having salvation in him. It was beautiful and reminded me of why I believe what I believe.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Holy Thursday 101/365

My day started with the Fed Ex man. I went out to meet him when he drove up and carried in a very nice sized box. In the box was this beautiful package. Apparently this is my birthday gift from my mom. But my birthday isn't for 2 more weeks!!
That means I have to stare at this lovely thing for two weeks!

It's currently sitting on the breakfast table where I can stare at it all day long, and William says I'm not even allowed to touch it. Sigh. It is really beautiful.
In other news, and most importantly, today is Holy Thursday.  I'd never heard of Holy Thursday before this year but Catholics world wide observe and celebrate it every year. It's the Thursday before Easter and it celebrates the night Jesus had his "Last Supper" with his friends.

I went to my first Holy Thursday mass tonight and it was wonderful. I don't know if all Holy Thursday masses are celebrated the same way everywhere but I would totally recommend checking it out sometime. It was a much longer service than the usual one hour service, but it was very uplifting and very interesting.

When I walked into the church they handed me a little sliver bell. At the beginning of the service we sang a very happy "Hallelujah" song and every one in the church rang their bells. They ran them all very loudly and vigorously. It was super fun.
Apparently during the time of Lent no bells and rung and all the masses are very somber. It's a time of reflecting and there are no bells or celebrating. So when Holy Thursday comes around it's the first time that bells are rang and it's a time of celebrating. It's a time of remembering the first time Jesus gave his disciples the Eucharist (or what Protestants call Communion). 

Anyway, the night before Jesus was killed he had dinner with his friends and he washed their feet as a sign of love and service to them. So, after the Priest gave his homily he washed the feet of all 11 alter boys. It was very sweet and very moving. He then gave communion to each boy before serving it to the rest of the people in the church.

After communion the rest of the crackers, which represents Christ and to Catholics is the actual body of Jesus, was taken out of it's special holding place, wrapped several times in very lovely fabric and carried out of the church building! Then, after a while, the priest came back and took everything out of the front of the church. All the candles removed, the drapery on the alter, the decorative tables, even the flowers were taken away. And then they turned out the lights.

They told us that "Jesus had left the building".

On the night before Jesus was killed he had dinner with his friends and then he went to a garden to pray for his friends.  So tonight the church created a little garden in the school gym with flowers and candles. After the official mass was over many of us when home. But many people stayed to pray, think, or read spiritual books.  They told me that "the garden" would be open till midnight and anyone was welcome to come and "be with Jesus".

It was a very interesting night and I came home on a high. It was totally different than anything I've ever experienced before. I loved sitting there watching the priest fold the drapery from the alter and thinking about how the same thing was happening in catholic churches all over the world.  It was a night of being somber and prayerful but also of being joyful and thankful.

At the end of the service everyone returned their bells, but I brought mine home for Baby Girl since she stayed home with William.  I thought she'd really like it and I wanted to share something of my night and this wonderful service with her.

If they could see how happy this little bell made her I'm sure no one would mind that I took it. She ran around saying "BELLLL" and shaking it and giggling...
and then she put it on her nose and ran around the house laughing until she dropped it.
Happy Holy Thursday. My the love and peace and joy of the gifts God has given us be in your heart and enrich your life.