(Oh, and I’m having the pictures post as thumbnails since there are so many, but you can always click on them to see a larger version.)

We did manage to participate in the parish’s Lenten Soup Suppers both last year and this year. Both years she happily went to various kind women who offered to hold her so we could eat. This year she actually got to eat some soup too!

Here’s the story of our Triduum. I just learned about the Holy Week tradition of Easter cleaning, but I think we’ll add that next year.

Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday was one of my favorite days of the liturgical calendar when I was growing up. I loved the foot washing services held at church or school, I loved the Sedar meal our parish put on each year, and I loved the Communion bread and grape juice our family shared at dinner. I loved the symbolism, the tradition, and the history behind it all.

Last year the parish deacon asked our family to be among the twelve parishioners whose feet he and the priest would wash during the Mass. Twelve parishioners represented the twelve apostles, although Siena threw off the count because he told us to take her shoe and sock off too, for good measure. We were seated at the edge of the altar in chairs facing the congregation, and the priest and deacon came around with a bowl, a pitcher, and a towel, and rinsed and dried one foot for each of us.  It’s always a humbling experience that brings the Gospel stories to life for me.  Siena loved it…and the rest of the congregation loved watching her. That girl knew how to work an audience even at five months old!

Our old car insurance ran out Wednesday, our new company started Friday tomorrow, and we’re still getting back on our feet from the weekend’s illnesses. HawkInWinter was able to work from home Thursday and we decided to lay low one more day instead of drive to Mass uninsured.

So we had our own little Holy Thursday and broke bread together. Then topped it off with some butter and agave nectar. Totally how they did it at the Last Supper, right?

Here’s the recipe I grew up with:
1 c Wheat Flour
1 c bisquick
1/3 c honey
1/3 c water

Mix until gooey.
Pat into a greased pie pan.
Bake at 350
20-30 minutes until firm but soft
or microwave 4 minutes and add one minute at a time until not gooey, and cooked in the center

Good Friday

We attended the Good Friday service to mourn Jesus’ death on the cross.  Each parish or Campus Ministry team at the different places I’ve attended  Good Friday services has its own way of  making this unique service dramatic, but they all include minimal decorations. Our altar looked so dark and barren without candles, cloths, banners, statues, flowers, or the tabernacle. The crucifix was covered in a red cloth that matched the priests’ garments.  Often if Siena gets restless in Mass I can point out the flowers, the candles, or Baby Jesus and his Momma and Daddy. She did get pretty restless through the long readings and intercessions, and I wished I had brought more distractions for her than just her new purse and her Nemo Easter Egg. We spent some time in the back on the stairs leading up to the choir loft. Any suggestions for shaping appropriate toddler church behavior are quite welcome! Siena came up with me to venerate the cross, thinking it was pretty silly that we were all giving it a kiss, but happy to play along.

Holy Saturday

………….
Holy Saturday is a day of waiting, remembering Jesus in the tomb, and preparing for the biggest feast day of the year.  We prepared our home, prepared our Easter clothes, prepared some activities for tomorrow, and dyed eggs. We also attended an Easter Egg hunt with some Mormon friends. I’ll need a day or two to get those pictures uploaded since we used the good camera, but these are some I grabbed with the point and shoot as we dyed eggs. As they went into the dye she labelled them eggs, but when they came out colored she considered them balls. Once she figured out that colored eggs are still eggs, she wanted to eat one. She clearly paid attention to my tapping the egg to crack the shell, because she spent a while very seriously tapping her peeled egg on her tray.

In the evening we attended the Easter Vigil, and this time I had a collection of distractions prepared for Siena. There were also plenty of things to point out in our surroundings, and we do that whenever we can so we save the food and toys for when we need them.  I think this is the first year I didn’t attend my home parish for Easter Vigil, so it’s always a bit sad when you’re expecting one thing and get another.  Every other reading was in Spanish, for example, as were most of the songs, the Lord’s Prayer, and every other sentence of the homily.  Mariachi music doesn’t have the same exultant feeling to me as hymns like Roll Away The Stone. Still, the fundamentals were there.

We started off outside with the fire to light the Easter candle, Siena watching from her Daddy’s shoulders, adding her own commentary. Candle. Baby. Dog! (when a neighborhood dog barked) Car. Muah! (blowing kisses from her high perch) We (well, those of us without babies, that is) processed into the dark church with  taper candles lit from the Easter Candle, which held her attention fairly well for the first readings and songs, until it was time to blow them out and the familiar lights turned back on. When Father walked down the aisle sprinkling us with Holy Water, she found that rather entertaining too. During the Liturgy of Baptism, Siena heard running water and wanted to stand on my lap to get a better view. She was at the end of her patience by the time we went up for Communion.  In between all those natural distractions, HawkInWinter and I took turns keeping her quiet with a book, her stuffed dog, water bottle, Rice Chex, Gerber yogurt melts, an empty plastic Easter egg, and stickers and paper. We were asking an awful lot of her by taking her to a two hour Mass and putting her to bed three hours late.  She is now sleeping soundly, likely with no idea what joy tomorrow holds.

Next year we’ll do some simple teaching about the meaning behind the different things we do during Lent and Holy Week, but last year and this year it’s been fun simply to expose her to these aspects of our Catholic culture. For now, I’m off to hide some eggs with my husband!

I was sick on Monday so I missed the first day of classes, making Wednesday my first day. I’m taking courses each quarter of this coming year to fulfill eight prerequisites I have left before applying to Ultrasound Technology Schools. If accepted, I will start in September 2011 and graduate in August 2013. Then Siena will be almost five, with another year left before kindergarten. I should be able to work two or three days a week as an Ultrasound Technician and make about what I was making as a teacher. I will be able to leave work at work though, not take home hours of paperwork that would keep me from my family.

The first step down that long path is across the threshold of the local community college, and that’s where I went on Wednesday. Later that evening, lucky wife that I am, my husband cooked dinner! That will be our plan for Mondays and Wednesdays the next 10 weeks.

Here’s my blog version of his recipe that yielded such delicious results:

Stir fry yellow onions and bean sprouts in sesame oil.
Use a combination of teriyaki sauce and soy sauce to fry up extra firm tofu, baby shrimp, canned bean sprouts, baby corn, scrambled egg, and mushrooms.
Mix into steamed rice, fold in some cold cucumbers and tomatoes.

If you want to do it exactly like HawkInWinter, be sure to use three frying pans, two casserole dishes, a bowl, cutting board, knife, spatula, and a rice cooker. They will pretty much fill a dishwasher.

So what do you think, does it make you want to go back to school too?

This year though, we feasted on chicken pot pie

pizza pockets made with pie crust

and key lime pie!

My parents visited the Florida Keys and learned that *authentic* key lime pie is yellow, not green. They brought back some key lime juice. I think I put it to pretty good use.

Here’s a tip to save you from a rookie mistake. If you’re putting whipped cream on your pie before serving it to a group (or before taking a pretty picture for your blog) go ahead and make a decorative border. If you’ll be eating it over a few days, you might want to apply the whipped cream to one slice at a time.

They arrived after I returned home, around St. Valentine’s Day. While HawkInWinter enjoyed the care package, he was a bit disappointed to realize I had sent them before we met, rather than after.  Our relationship wasn’t quite defined at that point, though he was hoping the SURPRISE cookies were an indication I was interested.

Three years (and one week) ago today, HawkInWinter was no longer “my online guy” in another state, but was my first ever Valentine, and fiance to boot.  He had been accepted to graduate school in my state and lived about 40 minutes from me.  He’d made a big deal out of being too busy with grad school to do much for St. Valentine’s Day, so I  had a St. Valentine’s dinner with friends.  Back at my condo, HawkInWinter had let himself in and lit all sorts of candles, placed three colorful roses in a vase, written a beautiful card and even had music playing to welcome me as I walked in.  It was a wonderful SURPRISE.

Two years (and one week) ago today, HawkInWinter and I had been married for six months and were staring, wide-eyed and scared, at a positive pregnancy test.  Eleven weeks later, once we’d adjusted to the news of our unexpected blessing and shared it with our family and friends, HawkInWinter posted a blog titled “I’m Going to be a Daddy!” to tell the world about our St. Valentine’s Day SURPRISE.  (You can click the bold words to go see his post.)

One year (and one week ago) today, Siena posted a blog titled “What a Difference a Year Makes!” about all the things she could see, hear, smell, taste, and touch that year as opposed to her first St. Valentine’s Day inside my tummy.  She included pictures of herself, her buddy London, and my SURPRISES at the end of a sticky note treasure hunt.

One week ago today, I was back from two overnights at my parents’ house.  HawkInWinter was my date to a Friday evening Sweetheart Cabaret at my parents’ parish where my father and big sister served as “sound engineers” for the event.

On Saturday, Siena squealed at her own cleverness as she repeatedly kissed her reflection in the giant exercise ball while we got the house ready for a family party…

…clapped for herself when she did well at a toddler game on her auntie’s brand new iPhone…

…and handed out Valentines with her fingerpainted hearts on them. (Remember our adventures with fingerpaint?)

I attempted a recipe from Family Fun magazine with layers of red Jell-O and unflavored gelatin mixed with sweetened condensed milk. (If I do it again, I’ll follow the recipe on the box for Jigglers so they’ll work a bit better.)

Back at home  Sunday morning, HawkInWinter SURPRISED me with an envelope but no card inside, just a slip of paper that said, “Because St. Valentine’s Day sucks, I am going to make you work for your card. Who knows? You might find something extra along the way. First clue: HawkInWinter’s favorite movie.”    (Admittedly I looked in three or four DVD cases before finding my second clue!)  Some clues were tricky:  ”A box without hinges, key, or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid.” Some were silly, some sentimental, but  all had been carefully hidden so I was unlikely to find them before the hunt began. I even had to stand on a chair and remove a wall hanging to find a hint taped to the back of  it!

I finally found my card, and a couple clues after that, my first ever dozen red roses. We have found ways to SURPRISE each other each of the last four St. Valentine’s Days. So far Siena has been the best (and biggest!) SURPRISE for us both.

I’m thinking next year if HawkInWinter tries to lower my expectations with grumblings about being too busy or simply disliking the commercial holiday, I’ll be on to him. I really should learn he always has a SURPRISE or two up his sleeve!

Here’s my therapeutic collection of a few things that did and did not happen this past week:

Siena DID work on drinking from a cup this week. She DID use a plastic, hand painted souvenir shot glass her Great Grandma Gee Bee gave her from a trip to Florida decades ago. It did NOT fall off the top shelf of the dishwasher, melt on the element, and stink up the house.

I DID forget my I.D. when I ran to the grocery store for a recipe that called for beer. I did NOT buy non-alcoholic beer and figure neither of us would notice a difference. Not us! We’re trendy people with sophisticated palettes for well brewed beers.

I DID make pudding for Siena to finger paint St. Valentine’s Day cards. The box did NOT have an expiration date of Oct 07.

I DID use pudding that said “5 Minutes To Homemade!” (whatever “homemade” means in this context…) I poured the powder into the bowl…and it was NOT somehow 3 hours later when I stirred in the cold milk to transform it into 5 Minute pudding.

I DID shave my legs in the bathtub this week. I did NOT let Siena in with me. Not me! Just the idea of that would make any good mother cringe, right?

Siena DID take a bath by herself this week, too. It did NOT end when she discovered the drain plug and I found myself scolding, “Uh-uh, yucky! That’s not a pacifier!” Nope, not me!

I DID try Siena’s hair in some perky pigtails this week. One pigtail DID fall out during the course of the day. I did NOT leave it that way for a second round of finger painting (pudding didn’t work so well) since she was hitting the bath right afterwards anyway. Not me! I always keep my daughter looking her best, with perfectly groomed hair and never looking like a shaggy ragamuffin. Especially if I’m going to be taking pictures.

Oh, and that certainly is NOT our clutter on the chair… or table… or floor… or counters in the background.  We were – um – at some other house. I don’t remember whose.

Back at the grocery store again, I DID carry Siena in the Ergo Baby Carrier, on my front, facing inward, the whole time. Siena did NOT have a runny nose at the time, or a terry cloth bib so I could wipe her nose without carrying a garbage bag for tissues. Not me! It is pretty inconsiderate to take a sneezing, slimy baby out in public, even if you do try to keep all the germs aimed at yourself.

HawkInWinter DID set off the smoke detector this week. It was NOT while the oven was still pre-heating, meaning it was really that dirty. Nope, not my oven!

I WAS excited to learn that Hulu would be playing all the Superbowl ads. I did NOT announce to my husband, “Now we don’t have to watch football in between commercials!” No, I’m definitely too much of a Spunky Sporty Spice to say that.

I DID have to change Siena’s jeans after her snack since she’d managed to sit on a chunk of banana. I changed her diaper, changed her jeans, put her down for a nap, cleaned her tray and went on with my afternoon. When it was time for her next snack, she did NOT plop right back down on the same chunk of banana. No way did I neglect to wipe her high chair seat the first time around. Not me!

So, that was my week. How was yours?

Are you back? Good. Weren’t those some cute onesies? They came in several sizes, and Siena has grown into her 6-9 month clothes and is now able to show off this particular onesie: [singlepic id=34 w=320 h=240 float=center]

Just in case you weren’t clear.

The idea for this one came from Hawk in Winter’s (Siena’s Daddy) bewilderment with the frequency of her spit-up.

Now, if only babies could read…

Unable to locate the right candies for the wings,  Jillian had the brilliant idea to flatten Starbursts and use my tiny heart cookie cutter. We used a frosting method I learned from my friend Sheena (mix together a can of whipped frosting with a container of Cool Whip), so these cupcakes were a bit of a group effort!

We made 24 cupcakes and a sheet cake.

[singlepic id=33 w=320 h=240 float=center]

A day this domestic called for the use of my 50’s era skirt apron.

Siena scooted all over Jillian’s floor while we worked but, luckily for these cupcakes, she can only pivot and go backwards…hasn’t mastered the forward scoot yet!

I sure hope we have some guests tonight to help with all these goodies!